USS Investment Management Ltd Lowers Stock Holdings in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

USS Investment Management Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN - Free Report) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 361,226 shares of the bank's stock after selling 146,981 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $5,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Carlson Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 163,575 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,661,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Huntington Bancshares by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 12,317 shares of the bank's stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Huntington Bancshares by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,279 shares of the bank's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 20,019 shares of the bank's stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the period. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 13,766 shares of the bank's stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Brantley J. Standridge sold 70,417 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.69, for a total transaction of $964,008.73. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 326,456 shares in the company, valued at $4,469,182.64. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.25, for a total value of $53,695.25. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 47,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $731,237.50. The trade was a 6.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 312,456 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,105 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on HBAN shares. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $16.50 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntington Bancshares currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.83.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Down 0.9%

HBAN stock traded down $0.15 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.62. 8,321,814 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,031,799. The firm has a market cap of $22.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a twelve month low of $11.92 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The firm's 50 day moving average is $14.58 and its 200 day moving average is $15.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 16.23%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 17th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.33%.

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.