R Squared Ltd Takes Position in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FHN. State Street Corp raised its stake in First Horizon by 18.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,236,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $410,789,000 after buying an additional 4,116,486 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in First Horizon by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,346,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $145,194,000 after acquiring an additional 61,397 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in First Horizon during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,242,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in First Horizon by 169.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,886,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185,772 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 43.0% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 948,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,724,000 after purchasing an additional 285,108 shares during the last quarter. 80.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on FHN. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of First Horizon from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on First Horizon from $22.50 to $23.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on First Horizon from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on First Horizon from $18.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on First Horizon from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.04.

First Horizon Stock Performance

NYSE FHN opened at $21.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. First Horizon Co. has a 1 year low of $13.45 and a 1 year high of $22.11.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.12%.

First Horizon declared that its board 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

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

First Horizon 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.