Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) Short Interest Up 13.5% in November

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Huntington Bancshares from $16.25 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Huntington Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on Huntington Bancshares from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Huntington Bancshares from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Huntington Bancshares from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Zachary Jacob Wasserman sold 8,644 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.63, for a total transaction of $152,393.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 259,943 shares in the company, valued at $4,582,795.09. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Helga Houston sold 6,455 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.43, for a total value of $99,600.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 558,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,615,217.06. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,699 shares of company stock worth $757,356 in the last ninety days. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HBAN. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Huntington Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $744,000. Petiole USA ltd bought a new position in shares of Huntington Bancshares during the third quarter valued at about $3,454,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position 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 valued at $2,837,000 after purchasing an additional 55,865 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntington Bancshares by 531.0% in 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, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Huntington Bancshares by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,318,486 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $298,682,000 after buying an additional 2,363,988 shares during the last quarter. 80.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Huntington Bancshares Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ HBAN traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.52. 2,832,656 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,882,021. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.61. The stock has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.10, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.06. Huntington Bancshares has a 1-year low of $11.57 and a 1-year high of $18.44.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. Huntington Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 10.72%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Huntington Bancshares will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be issued a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 18th. Huntington Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 59.62%.

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.