The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Lowers Stock Holdings in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,246,168 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 187,134 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.36% of Huntington Bancshares worth $85,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HBAN. Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $2,381,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $1,389,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,797,771 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,901,000 after buying an additional 55,602 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 6.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,743,357 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,627,000 after acquiring an additional 112,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,656 shares of the bank’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 3,668 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HBAN. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Huntington Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.45.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HBAN stock opened at $14.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $21.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.90, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 52 week low of $11.92 and a 52 week high of $18.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50 day moving average of $14.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.99.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.33%.

Huntington Bancshares declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 3,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.50, for a total transaction of $49,793.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 66,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,281.50. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Brantley J. Standridge sold 70,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.69, for a total value of $964,008.73. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 326,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,469,182.64. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 211,051 shares of company stock valued at $2,992,685 in the last three months. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Huntington Bancshares 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.