Wall Street Zen Downgrades Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) to Sell

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $18.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $17.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Monday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Huntington Bancshares has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $18.08.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:HBAN traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $16.60. 36,523,154 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,800,321. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Huntington Bancshares has a 1 year low of $11.92 and a 1 year high of $18.45. The company has a market cap of $24.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.67.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 17th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 3,434 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.50, for a total value of $49,793.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 66,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,281.50. This represents a 4.89% 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 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 326,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,469,182.64. The trade was a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 214,375 shares of company stock valued at $3,049,277. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HBAN. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 220.9% during the 4th 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 grew its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 850,139 shares of the bank's stock worth $13,832,000 after acquiring an additional 129,106 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $189,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 120.6% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,503 shares of the bank's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 2,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Snyder Capital Management L P grew its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P now owns 3,097,034 shares of the bank's stock worth $50,389,000 after acquiring an additional 505,278 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Huntington Bancshares Company Profile

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.