Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Shares Gap Up on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $13.27, but opened at $13.72. Huntington Bancshares shares last traded at $13.73, with a volume of 4,953,320 shares.

The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 11.23%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is 50.41%.

Huntington Bancshares announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HBAN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.50 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 69,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.67, for a total value of $1,013,520.96. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 453,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,647,402.43. This represents a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,825,036.44. This trade represents a 10.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,781 shares of company stock worth $1,631,151. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,381,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $1,389,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 3.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,797,771 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,901,000 after buying an additional 55,602 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 6.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,743,357 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,627,000 after acquiring an additional 112,146 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,656 shares of the bank’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 3,668 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $14.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89.

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.