Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Purchases New Stake in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of First Horizon by 365.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in First Horizon during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its holdings in First Horizon by 306.2% in the second quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,378 shares in the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Horizon during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens lifted their price objective on First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $17.00 price target on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 519,926 shares in the company, valued at $10,278,937.02. This represents a 16.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,323,452.80. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

First Horizon Stock Up 0.8 %

FHN stock opened at $19.27 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. First Horizon Co. has a one year low of $12.95 and a one year high of $21.72.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 15.43%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $821.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. First Horizon’s payout ratio is currently 43.48%.

First Horizon declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 29th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 10.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.