JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Stock Price

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $18.50 to $16.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the bank’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 26.98% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on HBAN. StockNews.com upgraded Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird raised Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.94.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Down 6.4 %

HBAN opened at $12.60 on Thursday. Huntington Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $12.05 and a fifty-two week high of $18.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average is $15.79 and its 200 day moving average is $16.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 11.23%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. Research analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of Huntington Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.25, for a total value of $53,695.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 47,950 shares in the company, valued at $731,237.50. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 69,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.67, for a total transaction of $1,013,520.96. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 453,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,647,402.43. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,781 shares of company stock worth $1,631,151 in the last quarter. 0.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $302,826,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $150,444,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,479,039 shares of the bank’s stock worth $528,434,000 after acquiring an additional 8,759,871 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 10.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,474,115 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,179,319,000 after acquiring an additional 7,439,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 126.6% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 7,048,773 shares of the bank’s stock worth $114,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,938,769 shares during the period. 80.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Huntington Bancshares

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.