California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,722,727 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 72,083 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $34,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 31.8% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 3,992 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Huntington Bancshares news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 30,000 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.66, for a total value of $409,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 305,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,178,375.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 15,948 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.47, for a total transaction of $214,819.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,243.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 30,000 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.66, for a total transaction of $409,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 305,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,178,375.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 198,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,664,978 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

HBAN opened at $13.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $13.36 and a 200 day moving average of $12.26. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $9.13 and a fifty-two week high of $14.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.74 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 15.86% and a return on equity of 11.99%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 55.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HBAN has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $15.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.17.

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.