Stock Traders Buy High Volume of First Horizon Call Options (NYSE:FHN)

First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 6,071 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 213% compared to the typical volume of 1,937 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Horizon

In related news, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 519,926 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of First Horizon stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 166,840 shares in the company, valued at $3,323,452.80. This trade 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Horizon

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FHN. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in First Horizon by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 948,122 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,724,000 after acquiring an additional 285,108 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of First Horizon by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 868,094 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,482,000 after purchasing an additional 100,359 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of First Horizon by 128.4% during the third quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 52,612 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 29,581 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC raised its stake in First Horizon by 10.1% in the third quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 465,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,229,000 after buying an additional 42,793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in First Horizon during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,669,000. 80.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $17.00 price objective on First Horizon in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of First Horizon from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on First Horizon from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stephens upped their price objective on First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on First Horizon from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $21.00.

First Horizon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FHN traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $20.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,470,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,575,184. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. First Horizon has a 1-year low of $12.95 and a 1-year high of $21.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. First Horizon had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $821.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that First Horizon will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. First Horizon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.48%.

First Horizon declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 29th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 10.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.