First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.05 EPS

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05, RTT News reports. First Horizon had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 9.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share.

First Horizon Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of First Horizon stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Thursday, hitting $21.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,945,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,623,646. The stock has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. First Horizon has a 52 week low of $12.95 and a 52 week high of $21.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. First Horizon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.48%.

First Horizon announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total value of $199,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 166,840 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,323,452.80. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.87% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on FHN. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $18.50 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush cut First Horizon from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $21.35.

First Horizon Company Profile

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.