Verity & Verity LLC Buys New Holdings in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Verity & Verity LLC purchased a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 38,964 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $634,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HBAN. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 10.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,474,115 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,179,319,000 after purchasing an additional 7,439,909 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Huntington Bancshares by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 62,708,399 shares of the bank’s stock worth $921,778,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522,767 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 36,880,662 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $540,422,000 after buying an additional 473,893 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,719,168 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $348,672,000 after buying an additional 3,410,597 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 13.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,318,486 shares of the bank’s stock worth $298,682,000 after buying an additional 2,363,988 shares during the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ HBAN opened at $17.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.07. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $12.02 and a fifty-two week high of $18.44.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 10.72%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HBAN. Citigroup boosted their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $16.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $17.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.76.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 8,644 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.63, for a total transaction of $152,393.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 259,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,582,795.09. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Helga Houston sold 6,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.43, for a total value of $99,600.65. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 558,342 shares in the company, valued at $8,615,217.06. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,699 shares of company stock worth $757,356 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

About Huntington Bancshares

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.