Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Sells 18,058 Shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 1.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,038,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,058 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in First Horizon were worth $16,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in First Horizon by 13.1% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 868,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,482,000 after acquiring an additional 100,359 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in First Horizon by 7.2% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 171,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,657,000 after acquiring an additional 11,492 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in First Horizon by 38.7% during the third quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 515,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,002,000 after acquiring an additional 143,866 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in First Horizon by 44.0% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in First Horizon during the third quarter valued at about $173,000. 80.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Horizon

In other First Horizon news, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $1,996,255.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 519,926 shares in the company, valued at $10,278,937.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FHN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of First Horizon in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on First Horizon from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $17.00 price objective on First Horizon in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded First Horizon from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 20th. Finally, Wedbush lowered First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.38.

First Horizon Trading Up 1.7 %

FHN opened at $20.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.86. First Horizon Co. has a 12 month low of $11.12 and a 12 month high of $20.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.50 and a 200 day moving average of $15.96.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $821.63 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 15.43%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Horizon Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

First Horizon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 29th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 10.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.48%.

About First Horizon

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.