First Manhattan CO. LLC. Purchases 5,214 Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 77,359 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,214 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $1,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HBAN. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,743,357 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,627,000 after acquiring an additional 112,146 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 129,989 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,127,000 after buying an additional 10,775 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $168,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 202,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,292,000 after buying an additional 2,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 314,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,125,000 after buying an additional 19,123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HBAN. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $18.00 price objective (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W raised Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $16.50 target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.45.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

HBAN stock opened at $15.22 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $22.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 1 year low of $11.92 and a 1 year high of $18.45. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.96.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.155 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.33%.

Huntington Bancshares declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of Huntington Bancshares 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of Huntington Bancshares 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 47,950 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 312,456 shares of company stock worth $4,464,105. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

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.