First Horizon Co. (FHN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 on April 1st

First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

First Horizon has a dividend payout ratio of 31.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect First Horizon to earn $1.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.6%.

First Horizon Price Performance

First Horizon stock opened at $21.57 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.00. First Horizon has a one year low of $13.45 and a one year high of $22.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $11.44 billion, a PE ratio of 15.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. First Horizon had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 15.38%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that First Horizon will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FHN. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on First Horizon from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group assumed coverage on First Horizon in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on First Horizon from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on First Horizon from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on First Horizon from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Horizon currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $1,996,255.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 519,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,278,937.02. The trade was a 16.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total value of $199,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 166,840 shares in the company, valued at $3,323,452.80. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 220,954 shares of company stock valued at $4,519,333. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

First Horizon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 29th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 10.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About First Horizon

First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through Regional Banking and Specialty Banking segments. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments.