Insider Buying: Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Director Purchases $252,902.00 in Stock

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Director Gary Torgow purchased 14,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.81 per share, with a total value of $252,902.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 943,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,800,903.21. This represents a 1.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HBAN stock opened at $17.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 52 week low of $11.91 and a 52 week high of $19.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.07. The company has a market capitalization of $35.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.96.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.03). Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 17.71%.The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 18th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 44.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HBAN. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $19.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Evercore started coverage on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.60.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 14,338,222 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Huntington Bancshares by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 77,228,656 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,351,806,000 after acquiring an additional 3,438,501 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 4,265.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 70,083,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,215,955,000 after acquiring an additional 68,478,435 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,363,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 62,971,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,092,562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,908,927 shares during the period. 80.72% of the stock is owned by 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.