Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 35,494 Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 529,533 shares of the bank's stock after selling 35,494 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $8,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 64,926,419 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,056,353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218,020 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 52,599,986 shares of the bank's stock valued at $855,802,000 after buying an additional 2,310,502 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 36.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,479,039 shares of the bank's stock valued at $528,434,000 after acquiring an additional 8,759,871 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,825,092 shares of the bank's stock worth $355,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $302,826,000. 80.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on HBAN. Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reduced their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Baird R W upgraded Huntington Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.83.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Huntington Bancshares stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $15.72. The company had a trading volume of 27,628,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,149,040. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $22.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $14.59 and a 200-day moving average of $15.93. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 52 week low of $11.92 and a 52 week high of $18.45.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 16.23%. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. Huntington Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.33%.

Huntington Bancshares declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, April 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,825,036.44. This trade represents a 10.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 3,434 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.50, for a total value of $49,793.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 66,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $969,281.50. This represents a 4.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 312,456 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,105. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.