First Horizon Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:FHN)

Key Points

• First Horizon saw unusually heavy options activity, with investors purchasing 100,171 call options—about 1,415% above its average daily volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: the consensus rating is “Hold” with a $27.07 price target, although eight analysts rate the stock a Buy and recent targets range as high as $31.
• FHN shares rose 0.5% to $23.18, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.53, slightly above estimates, and maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share, yielding about 2.9%.

First Horizon Corporation (NYSE:FHN - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 100,171 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,415% compared to the average daily volume of 6,613 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Horizon

In related news, EVP Elizabeth Ardoin sold 18,313 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.85, for a total value of $455,078.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 340,368 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,458,144.80. The trade was a 5.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.91% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Horizon

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in First Horizon by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 28,787 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $655,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of First Horizon by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 340,886 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,847,000 after acquiring an additional 34,836 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of First Horizon during the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,842,000. Reliant Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Horizon during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,214,000. Finally, Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 10,832 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FHN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $28.50 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of First Horizon in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Truist Financial increased their target price on First Horizon from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of First Horizon in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $31.00 price target on First Horizon in a research note on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.07.

First Horizon Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:FHN traded up $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $23.18. 1,294,524 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,478,785. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.91. First Horizon has a 12-month low of $20.40 and a 12-month high of $26.56. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $24.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.53.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $883.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $889.18 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 14.35%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that First Horizon will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. First Horizon's payout ratio is presently 48.92%.

First Horizon Company Profile

First Horizon Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, and the parent company of First Horizon Bank. The company provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses, institutions and government entities through a network serving communities primarily across the southeastern United States.

Its offerings include consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, treasury management, payment services, personal and business banking, and wealth management.

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