Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms have also commented on HBAN. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price (down from $21.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Huntington Bancshares in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Zacks Research raised Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Huntington Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.66.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HBAN stock opened at $15.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $16.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.43. Huntington Bancshares has a 52 week low of $11.91 and a 52 week high of $18.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 11th. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $469.00 million for the quarter. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.14% and a net margin of 18.06%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 18th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Huntington Bancshares news, Director John C. Inglis purchased 6,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.30 per share, with a total value of $99,541.80. Following the acquisition, the director owned 89,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,374,414.30. The trade was a 7.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Marcy C. Hingst sold 6,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.65, for a total transaction of $100,410.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 252,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,948,573.25. This trade represents a 2.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $374,474,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 274.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,758,669 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $157,292,000 after purchasing an additional 7,889,004 shares during the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $85,690,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,230,988 shares of the bank’s stock worth $594,054,000 after purchasing an additional 4,640,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 57,186,593 shares of the bank’s stock worth $858,371,000 after purchasing an additional 4,586,607 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.