Quarry LP Acquires New Holdings in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 16,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in First Horizon by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,389,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $510,782,000 after purchasing an additional 3,870,946 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in First Horizon by 28.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,515,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,647,000 after acquiring an additional 3,470,346 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 46.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 14,370,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,626,000 after acquiring an additional 4,558,129 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in First Horizon by 5.2% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 14,025,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,187,000 after buying an additional 692,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sculptor Capital LP increased its holdings in First Horizon by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 10,200,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $160,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570,000 shares in the last quarter. 80.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Horizon Price Performance

FHN opened at $20.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. First Horizon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.95 and a fifty-two week high of $21.72. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio is 43.48%.

First Horizon announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 29th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on First Horizon from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James upped their target price on First Horizon from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of First Horizon from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total transaction of $199,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 166,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,323,452.80. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $1,996,255.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 519,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,278,937.02. This represents a 16.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

First Horizon Profile

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.