Driehaus Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 26,279 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 17,533.3% in the fourth quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 1,587 shares of the bank's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 126.8% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,830 shares of the bank's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the bank's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,825,036.44. This represents a 10.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 25,419 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.68, for a total value of $347,731.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 70,281 shares of the company's stock, valued at $961,444.08. The trade was a 26.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 312,456 shares of company stock worth $4,464,105 in the last ninety days. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Huntington Bancshares stock remained flat at $16.09 during midday trading on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 21,159,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,676,329. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a twelve month low of $11.92 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $14.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 16.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 17th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to buy up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HBAN. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $18.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $16.50 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.45.

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.