First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.04.

Several brokerages have recently commented on FHN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Horizon from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $18.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Horizon news, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the business's 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 approximately $3,323,452.80. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $1,996,255.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 519,926 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,278,937.02. This represents a 16.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.87% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Horizon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 18.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,236,784 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $410,789,000 after acquiring an additional 4,116,486 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 46.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 14,370,699 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $226,626,000 after acquiring an additional 4,558,129 shares in the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP lifted its stake in First Horizon by 18.2% in the second quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 10,200,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $160,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in First Horizon by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,346,924 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $145,194,000 after purchasing an additional 61,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in First Horizon by 38.8% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,015,941 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $76,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402,436 shares during the last quarter. 80.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Horizon Stock Performance

NYSE FHN traded down $0.35 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $21.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,496,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,639,810. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.92. First Horizon has a 12 month low of $13.45 and a 12 month high of $21.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $20.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.79.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. First Horizon had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 10.10%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Horizon will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 29th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. First Horizon's dividend payout ratio is 44.12%.

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.