Retirement Systems of Alabama Buys 2,227 Shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,854,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,227 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in First Horizon were worth $26,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in First Horizon by 6,217.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,806,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,023,000 after purchasing an additional 7,682,480 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of First Horizon by 137.9% in the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 8,900,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,078,000 after buying an additional 5,158,750 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 807.7% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,487,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,469,000 after acquiring an additional 4,882,709 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Horizon by 1,068.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,129,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,485,000 after acquiring an additional 2,861,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in First Horizon by 4.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,775,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $625,661,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,977 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James upgraded First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of First Horizon from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com upgraded First Horizon from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on First Horizon from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.15.

First Horizon Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:FHN opened at $14.85 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. First Horizon Co. has a 12-month low of $8.99 and a 12-month high of $17.82.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $819.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $809.51 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 8.96% and a net margin of 16.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

First Horizon declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 23rd that allows the company to buyback $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. First Horizon’s payout ratio is presently 41.96%.

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.