Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,390,000 shares, a growth of 5.5% from the September 30th total of 27,870,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 13,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Helga Houston sold 6,455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.43, for a total transaction of $99,600.65. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 558,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,615,217.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WealthShield Partners LLC grew its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 5.9% during the second quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 12,237 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 683 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 19.1% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,545 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 3.2% during the second quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,647 shares of the bank’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 2.5% during the second quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. now owns 30,955 shares of the bank’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 0.5% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 157,152 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,192,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HBAN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Argus increased their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.09.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HBAN opened at $15.74 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.04. Huntington Bancshares has a 1-year low of $9.49 and a 1-year high of $16.03. The firm has a market cap of $22.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 14.19%. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 18th. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.62%.

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.