Freestone Grove Partners LP Makes New Investment in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 36,818 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 220.9% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,666,949 shares of the bank's stock worth $59,661,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524,077 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 850,139 shares of the bank's stock valued at $13,832,000 after purchasing an additional 129,106 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $422,000. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $1,460,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,797,771 shares of the bank's stock valued at $27,901,000 after acquiring an additional 55,602 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on HBAN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $17.50 to $17.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $16.50 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Argus set a $17.00 target price on Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.45.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Huntington Bancshares stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $15.23. 8,311,171 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,454,334. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $11.92 and a fifty-two week high of $18.45. The stock has a market cap of $22.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. Huntington Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.33%.

Huntington Bancshares announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,825,036.44. The trade was a 10.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Brantley J. Standridge sold 70,417 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.69, for a total value of $964,008.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 326,456 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,469,182.64. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 312,456 shares of company stock valued at $4,464,105 over the last quarter. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company 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.