J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Acquires 56,343 Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated $HBAN

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 433.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 69,327 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,343 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $1,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. grew its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 574,175 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,962,000 after acquiring an additional 28,175 shares in the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 73,762 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,280,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $205,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 7,159 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 28,289 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $491,000 after acquiring an additional 9,624 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 65,530 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total value of $1,001,298.40. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 481,676 shares in the company, valued at $7,360,009.28. The trade was a 11.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James D. Rollins III bought 1,127 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.39 per share, with a total value of $28,614.53. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 4,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,560. This represents a 39.23% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 27,700 shares of company stock valued at $540,401 and have sold 108,986 shares valued at $1,785,958. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HBAN opened at $15.88 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.82 and a 200 day moving average of $16.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $32.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.95. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 52 week low of $11.91 and a 52 week high of $19.45.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.03). Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 11.98%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.155 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HBAN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $21.00 price objective on Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Stephens lifted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. National Bank Financial set a $21.00 price target on Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Huntington Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.43.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN) is a bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, that provides a broad range of banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, Huntington National Bank. The company’s operations are centered on retail and commercial banking, and it serves individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, and institutional customers.

Huntington’s product offerings include traditional deposit and lending products, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage origination and servicing, auto financing, and business banking solutions.