Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 489,300 Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated $HBAN

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 27.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,296,403 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 489,300 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $35,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Centennial Bank AR bought a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. increased its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 403.1% in the fourth quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 2,611 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,092 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HBAN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Barclays lowered Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.25.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

HBAN stock opened at $18.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.92. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a one year low of $14.89 and a one year high of $19.45. The company has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.93.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.21. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.63% and a return on equity of 11.42%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 17th were paid a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.69%.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, Director James D. Rollins III sold 223,522 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.35, for a total value of $3,878,106.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 612,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,620,889.25. This trade represents a 26.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Marcy C. Hingst sold 10,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $190,224.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 267,859 shares in the company, valued at $4,821,462. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 33,500 shares of company stock worth $617,542. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

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.