Huntington Bancshares Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 10,638 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 193% compared to the average daily volume of 3,636 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HBAN shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $19.00 to $18.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntington Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.05.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ HBAN traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $17.44. 6,322,132 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,712,766. The company has a market cap of $35.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.94. Huntington Bancshares has a 12-month low of $14.89 and a 12-month high of $19.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.32 and a 200 day moving average of $16.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.63% and a return on equity of 11.42%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 17th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.69%.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In other news, Director James D. Rollins III bought 11,127 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $16.50 per share, for a total transaction of $183,595.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 11,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,595.50. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired a total of 33,500 shares of company stock worth $617,542 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,319,041 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,319,385,000 after purchasing an additional 14,338,222 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 77,228,656 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,351,806,000 after buying an additional 3,438,501 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 4,265.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 70,083,841 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,215,955,000 after buying an additional 68,478,435 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 3.9% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 63,302,953 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,091,615,000 after buying an additional 2,363,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 62,971,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,092,562,000 after buying an additional 3,908,927 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN) is a bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, that provides a broad range of banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, Huntington National Bank. The company’s operations are centered on retail and commercial banking, and it serves individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, and institutional customers.

Huntington’s product offerings include traditional deposit and lending products, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage origination and servicing, auto financing, and business banking solutions.