Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $16.50 price target on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 23.32% from the stock’s current price.

HBAN has been the topic of several other reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Baird R W raised Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.83.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:HBAN traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $13.38. 6,279,410 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,245,790. Huntington Bancshares has a twelve month low of $11.92 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The firm has a market cap of $19.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.02.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 11.23%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,825,036.44. This trade represents a 10.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.25, for a total transaction of $53,695.25. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 47,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $731,237.50. This represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,781 shares of company stock worth $1,631,151 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 17,533.3% during the 4th quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 1,587 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 126.8% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,830 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares during the period. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC grew its position in Huntington Bancshares by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services.