Smith Group Asset Management LLC Buys New Stake in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 90,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,813,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of First Horizon by 365.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of First Horizon by 160.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of First Horizon by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 651 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Horizon during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in First Horizon by 335.6% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Horizon news, CEO D Bryan Jordan sold 109,980 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.13, for a total value of $2,323,877.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,861,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,330,980.53. This trade represents a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total value of $199,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 166,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,323,452.80. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 220,954 shares of company stock worth $4,519,333 in the last ninety days. 0.87% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FHN shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of First Horizon from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on First Horizon from $22.50 to $23.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on First Horizon from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on First Horizon from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.04.

First Horizon Price Performance

Shares of FHN stock opened at $21.30 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $20.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.98. First Horizon Co. has a 12 month low of $13.45 and a 12 month high of $21.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $11.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. First Horizon had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 15.38%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Analysts predict that First Horizon Co. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

First Horizon declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 29th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. First Horizon’s payout ratio is currently 44.12%.

First Horizon Company 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.