Nomura Holdings Inc. Takes Position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 47,860 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $779,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 17,533.3% during the 4th quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 1,587 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 126.8% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,830 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report 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 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. 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, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Huntington Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.58.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 47,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $731,237.50. This trade represents a 6.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Helga Houston sold 42,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total transaction of $623,318.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 592,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,715,991.68. This represents a 6.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 312,456 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,105 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ HBAN opened at $16.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $14.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.98. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 52-week low of $11.92 and a 52-week high of $18.45. The company has a market cap of $23.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 EPS 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. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is 47.33%.

Huntington Bancshares declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, April 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.