Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Short Interest Up 50.7% in December

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 42,510,000 shares, an increase of 50.7% from the December 15th total of 28,210,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 14,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 8,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.63, for a total transaction of $152,393.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 259,943 shares in the company, valued at $4,582,795.09. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.67, for a total transaction of $505,362.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 496,076 shares in the company, valued at $8,765,662.92. The trade was a 5.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 43,699 shares of company stock valued at $757,356. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HBAN. FCG Investment Co grew its position in Huntington Bancshares by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 96,746 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 6,729 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new stake in shares of Huntington Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $1,460,000. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Huntington Bancshares by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,187 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 3,187 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 152,029 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,474,000 after acquiring an additional 7,855 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Huntington Bancshares by 1,098.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 524,697 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,537,000 after purchasing an additional 480,907 shares during the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Sandler O’Neill reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Huntington Bancshares in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler raised 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, December 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $16.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.76.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of HBAN traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $17.01. 31,298,513 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,691,037. Huntington Bancshares has a one year low of $12.02 and a one year high of $18.44. The company has a market capitalization of $24.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.03. Huntington Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 14.19%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 59.62%.

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.