MCF Advisors LLC Acquires 1,359 Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 27.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,274 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,381,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $744,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 5.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 844,466 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,414,000 after acquiring an additional 44,662 shares during the period. Petiole USA ltd purchased a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,454,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,797,771 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,901,000 after acquiring an additional 55,602 shares during the period. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on HBAN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target (up from $18.50) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.50 target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.06.

Huntington Bancshares Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ HBAN opened at $16.86 on Thursday. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a twelve month low of $12.05 and a twelve month high of $18.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.49 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.07. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $17.02 and its 200 day moving average is $15.55.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 11.23%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 8,644 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.63, for a total transaction of $152,393.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 259,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,582,795.09. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 28,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.67, for a total value of $505,362.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 496,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,765,662.92. This trade represents a 5.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.