Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $44.08 Million Stock Holdings in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 174.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,709,065 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,721,507 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.19% of Huntington Bancshares worth $44,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBAN. Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $2,381,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 220.9% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,666,949 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,661,000 after buying an additional 2,524,077 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 850,139 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,832,000 after buying an additional 129,106 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $422,000. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $1,460,000. Institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of Huntington Bancshares stock opened at $13.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $19.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $14.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.00. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 1 year low of $11.92 and a 1 year high of $18.45.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 16.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.54%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 50.41%.

Huntington Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, April 17th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.50 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Baird R W raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Huntington Bancshares has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 69,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.67, for a total transaction of $1,013,520.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 453,129 shares in the company, valued at $6,647,402.43. This trade represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.25, for a total value of $53,695.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 47,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $731,237.50. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,781 shares of company stock worth $1,631,151 over the last ninety days. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.