First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) Price Target Raised to $24.00

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) had its price objective upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $23.00 to $24.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised their target price on First Horizon from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of First Horizon from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $17.00 price objective on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.85.

First Horizon Price Performance

FHN stock opened at $19.27 on Thursday. First Horizon has a 1 year low of $12.95 and a 1 year high of $21.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.22 billion, a PE ratio of 13.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.88.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. First Horizon had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $821.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Horizon will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 10.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. First Horizon’s payout ratio is currently 43.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total transaction of $199,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 166,840 shares in the company, valued at $3,323,452.80. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of First Horizon stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $1,996,255.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 519,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,278,937.02. This represents a 16.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Horizon

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FHN. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of First Horizon by 365.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in First Horizon in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its position in First Horizon by 306.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,378 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in First Horizon in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of First Horizon by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

About First Horizon

First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through Regional Banking and Specialty Banking segments. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments.