24,404 Shares in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 24,404 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 200.7% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 1,801 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in Huntington Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in Huntington Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HBAN has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $16.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Sandler O’Neill reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.06.

Insider Activity

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 28,600 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.67, for a total transaction of $505,362.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 496,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,765,662.92. This trade represents a 5.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 8,644 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.63, for a total transaction of $152,393.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 259,943 shares in the company, valued at $4,582,795.09. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Up 1.8 %

HBAN stock opened at $17.20 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $24.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.07. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a twelve month low of $12.05 and a twelve month high of $18.44.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 16.23%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is 50.41%.

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.