Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Short Interest Update

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 33,650,000 shares, a growth of 13.5% from the October 31st total of 29,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 13,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of HBAN stock traded down $0.15 on Tuesday, hitting $17.63. 8,978,836 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,900,708. The firm has a market cap of $25.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.64. Huntington Bancshares has a 52 week low of $11.57 and a 52 week high of $18.44.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 14.19%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be given a dividend of $0.155 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 59.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Helga Houston sold 6,455 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.43, for a total transaction of $99,600.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 558,342 shares in the company, valued at $8,615,217.06. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Scott D. Kleinman sold 28,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.67, for a total transaction of $505,362.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 496,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,765,662.92. The trade was a 5.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 43,699 shares of company stock valued at $757,356. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $744,000. Petiole USA ltd purchased a new position in Huntington Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,454,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Huntington Bancshares by 40.7% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 192,984 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,837,000 after purchasing an additional 55,865 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 531.0% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,150,690 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,166,000 after purchasing an additional 968,331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 5.6% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 844,466 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,414,000 after purchasing an additional 44,662 shares during the period. 80.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on HBAN shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.76.

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.