Royal Bank of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Stock Price

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) had its price objective lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

HBAN has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $16.50 target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.39.

Huntington Bancshares Trading Up 1.7 %

Huntington Bancshares stock opened at $14.17 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $20.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $14.70 and a 200-day moving average of $15.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Huntington Bancshares has a one year low of $11.92 and a one year high of $18.45.

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

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 47.33%.

Huntington Bancshares announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 17th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, VP Brantley J. Standridge sold 70,417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.69, for a total value of $964,008.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 326,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,469,182.64. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,825,036.44. The trade was a 10.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 207,617 shares of company stock valued at $2,942,892 over the last three months. 0.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $302,826,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Huntington Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $150,444,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,479,039 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $528,434,000 after acquiring an additional 8,759,871 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 126.6% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 7,048,773 shares of the bank’s stock worth $114,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,938,769 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 17,435,207 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $286,460,000 after purchasing an additional 3,671,235 shares during the period. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Huntington Bancshares Company Profile

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.