Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Decreases Position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 671,602 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 104,177 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $10,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HBAN. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,474,115 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,179,319,000 after acquiring an additional 7,439,909 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 64,926,419 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,056,353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218,020 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 36,880,662 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $540,422,000 after acquiring an additional 473,893 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,719,168 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $348,672,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,597 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,825,092 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $355,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,606 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Huntington Bancshares stock opened at $14.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.07. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a twelve month low of $12.05 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $16.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Huntington Bancshares news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total value of $552,925.38. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,825,036.44. This trade represents a 10.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 69,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.67, for a total transaction of $1,013,520.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 453,129 shares in the company, valued at $6,647,402.43. This trade represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $18.50 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.35.

Huntington Bancshares 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.