Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Short Interest Update

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 70,000,000 shares, a growth of 19.5% from the February 28th total of 58,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 21,990,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 4.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HBAN shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $17.50 to $17.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huntington Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $17.94.

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Huntington Bancshares Stock Down 0.3 %

Huntington Bancshares stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $12.57. The company had a trading volume of 16,502,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,071,226. Huntington Bancshares has a 12 month low of $11.92 and a 12 month high of $18.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $15.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.15. The company has a market capitalization of $18.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.89.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 11.23%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. Huntington Bancshares's payout ratio is 50.41%.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In related news, VP Brendan A. Lawlor sold 3,521 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $731,237.50. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 38,451 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $552,925.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,825,036.44. This represents a 10.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,781 shares of company stock valued at $1,631,151 over the last three months. 0.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HBAN. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 10.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 79,474,115 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,179,319,000 after acquiring an additional 7,439,909 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 64,926,419 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,056,353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218,020 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 52,599,986 shares of the bank's stock worth $855,802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310,502 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 36,880,662 shares of the bank's stock valued at $540,422,000 after buying an additional 473,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,479,039 shares of the bank's stock valued at $528,434,000 after buying an additional 8,759,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.72% of the company's stock.

Huntington Bancshares Company 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.