Verition Fund Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Verition Fund Management LLC decreased its holdings in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,325,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 668,940 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned about 0.63% of First Horizon worth $51,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FHN. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 365.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in First Horizon in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its stake in First Horizon by 306.2% during the 2nd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,378 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in First Horizon during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in First Horizon by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

First Horizon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FHN opened at $21.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $11.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.38. First Horizon Co. has a 52 week low of $11.87 and a 52 week high of $21.72.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. First Horizon had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $821.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Horizon Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.48%.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 29th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FHN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on First Horizon from $18.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush cut shares of First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $17.00 target price on shares of First Horizon in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.71.

Insider Activity at First Horizon

In related news, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $1,996,255.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 519,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,278,937.02. This represents a 16.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of First Horizon stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total transaction of $199,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 166,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,323,452.80. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

About First Horizon

First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through Regional Banking and Specialty Banking segments. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments.