World Investment Advisors Buys 9,990 Shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) by 73.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,522 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,990 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Huntington Bancshares were worth $383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 64,926,419 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,056,353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218,020 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 36,880,662 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $540,422,000 after acquiring an additional 473,893 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,825,092 shares of the bank’s stock worth $355,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,606 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $302,826,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 17,435,207 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $286,460,000 after purchasing an additional 3,671,235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.72% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ HBAN opened at $12.49 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.09. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a one year low of $11.92 and a one year high of $18.45. The firm has a market cap of $18.24 billion, a PE ratio of 10.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.155 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.96%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HBAN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Baird R W upgraded Huntington Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Huntington Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.94.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

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

Huntington Bancshares 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.