Brokerages Set Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Price Target at $18.24

Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.35.

Several research firms recently issued reports on HBAN. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.50 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective (up previously from $18.50) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Huntington Bancshares Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HBAN opened at $14.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.07. Huntington Bancshares has a 12-month low of $12.05 and a 12-month 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.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 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%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 50.41%.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 69,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.67, for a total value of $1,013,520.96. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 453,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,647,402.43. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HBAN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $302,826,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $150,444,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Huntington Bancshares by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,479,039 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $528,434,000 after buying an additional 8,759,871 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Huntington Bancshares by 10.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,474,115 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,179,319,000 after buying an additional 7,439,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in Huntington Bancshares by 126.6% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 7,048,773 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,684,000 after buying an additional 3,938,769 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently 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.