Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases New Position in Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 24,404 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HBAN. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $1,806,000. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 75.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 22,022 shares of the bank's stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 9,441 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $73,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 145,813 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,372,000 after acquiring an additional 2,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 56,219 shares of the bank's stock valued at $915,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 28,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.67, for a total transaction of $505,362.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 496,076 shares in the company, valued at $8,765,662.92. The trade was a 5.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 8,644 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.63, for a total value of $152,393.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 259,943 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,582,795.09. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.89% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HBAN has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays increased their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $20.00 target price (up previously from $18.50) on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $16.25 to $20.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $18.06.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of HBAN stock traded up $0.30 on Friday, reaching $17.20. The stock had a trading volume of 20,478,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,545,722. The stock has a market cap of $24.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.61. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated has a 1 year low of $12.05 and a 1 year high of $18.44.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares Incorporated will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. Huntington Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.41%.

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.