First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on FHN. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James raised shares of First Horizon from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a report on Friday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of First Horizon from $16.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of First Horizon from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $18.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $16.15.

First Horizon Stock Performance

Shares of FHN opened at $15.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $14.68 and a 200-day moving average of $13.63. First Horizon has a one year low of $8.99 and a one year high of $17.49. The company has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. First Horizon had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $819.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $809.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Horizon will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.96%.

First Horizon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $650.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Horizon

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FHN. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of First Horizon by 224.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 28,518,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $439,186,000 after buying an additional 19,728,357 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of First Horizon by 6,217.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,806,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,023,000 after buying an additional 7,682,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of First Horizon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $86,487,000. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its position in First Horizon by 137.9% during the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 8,900,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,078,000 after purchasing an additional 5,158,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its position in First Horizon by 807.7% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,487,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,469,000 after purchasing an additional 4,882,709 shares in the last quarter. 80.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Horizon Company Profile

First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through Regional Banking and Specialty Banking segments. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments.