Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 156,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Horizon by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,775,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $625,661,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,977 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in First Horizon by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,689,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $281,883,000 after buying an additional 1,321,075 shares in the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its stake in First Horizon by 137.9% during the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 8,900,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,078,000 after buying an additional 5,158,750 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in First Horizon by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,849,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,381,000 after buying an additional 704,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in First Horizon by 6,217.8% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,806,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,023,000 after buying an additional 7,682,480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

First Horizon Trading Down 0.9 %

FHN opened at $13.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.33. First Horizon Co. has a one year low of $8.99 and a one year high of $18.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.09, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.94.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 17.80%. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $784.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

First Horizon declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 23rd that permits the company to buyback $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on FHN shares. Raymond James upgraded First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Barclays started coverage on First Horizon in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First Horizon from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com lowered First Horizon from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on First Horizon from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.00.

First Horizon Profile

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.