Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) Downgraded by Robert W. Baird to “Neutral”

Robert W. Baird cut shares of Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $15.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

HBAN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Stephens restated an equal weight rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $15.47.

Huntington Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:HBAN opened at $15.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.06. Huntington Bancshares has a one year low of $9.25 and a one year high of $15.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.02. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Huntington Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 55.86%.

Insider Activity at Huntington Bancshares

In other Huntington Bancshares news, insider Helga Houston sold 7,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.64, for a total transaction of $99,271.92. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 648,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,851,050.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Huntington Bancshares news, insider Helga Houston sold 7,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.64, for a total transaction of $99,271.92. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 648,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,851,050.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Nancy E. Maloney sold 57,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.15, for a total transaction of $871,685.55. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 69,595 shares in the company, valued at $1,054,364.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,165 shares of company stock worth $2,301,069 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 20.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 56,175,987 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $783,215,000 after purchasing an additional 9,533,511 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at $206,703,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,130,774 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $192,473,000 after buying an additional 765,070 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 3.1% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 7,403,303 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $103,276,000 after buying an additional 225,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,534,897 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,124,000 after buying an additional 1,838,019 shares in the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Huntington Bancshares

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.