Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Short Interest Down 15.0% in August

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 26,930,000 shares, a decline of 15.0% from the August 15th total of 31,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,790,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HBAN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W downgraded Huntington Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Argus boosted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 5,747 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.98, for a total value of $86,090.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 65,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $987,167.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Kendall A. Kowalski sold 5,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.98, for a total transaction of $86,090.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $987,167.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Nancy E. Maloney sold 57,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.15, for a total value of $871,685.55. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 69,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,054,364.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 116,622 shares of company stock valued at $1,762,904. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HBAN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $206,703,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 56,175,987 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $783,215,000 after buying an additional 9,533,511 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 715.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,251,631 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,081,000 after buying an additional 3,729,974 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 832.7% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,337,625 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,927,000 after buying an additional 2,979,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scout Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,428,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ HBAN traded down $0.01 on Wednesday, hitting $14.56. 15,076,792 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,538,195. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $14.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.71. Huntington Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $9.25 and a fifty-two week high of $15.24. The firm has a market cap of $21.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.05.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.34% and a net margin of 14.77%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.19 EPS for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 55.86%.

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.