Meritage Portfolio Management Increases Stock Position in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 515,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 143,866 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in First Horizon were worth $8,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FHN. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in First Horizon by 57.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 426,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,573,000 after buying an additional 155,982 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of First Horizon in the first quarter worth about $2,366,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of First Horizon by 286.4% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 65,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 48,720 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its holdings in First Horizon by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 465,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,229,000 after acquiring an additional 42,793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new stake in First Horizon during the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,019,000. Institutional investors own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FHN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on First Horizon from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of First Horizon in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Horizon from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 20th. Finally, Wedbush downgraded First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.38.

First Horizon Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:FHN traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.69. 7,645,749 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,276,455. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $16.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.92. First Horizon Co. has a 1 year low of $10.96 and a 1 year high of $20.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 15.43%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $821.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. Equities analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. First Horizon’s payout ratio is currently 43.48%.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Horizon

In related news, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of First Horizon stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $1,996,255.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 519,926 shares in the company, valued at $10,278,937.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.