Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Increases Stake in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its holdings in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 20.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in First Horizon were worth $270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Horizon by 4.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,775,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $625,661,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,977 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of First Horizon by 16.0% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 994,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,960,000 after buying an additional 137,525 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in First Horizon in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,189,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in First Horizon by 2.0% in the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 312,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,440,000 after acquiring an additional 6,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in First Horizon by 721.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 110,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,219,000 after acquiring an additional 97,144 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FHN. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Raymond James raised First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a report on Friday, January 5th. Citigroup assumed coverage on First Horizon in a research report on Friday, December 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on First Horizon from $17.00 to $17.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of First Horizon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $15.50 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Horizon currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.92.

First Horizon Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE FHN opened at $15.40 on Friday. First Horizon Co. has a one year low of $8.99 and a one year high of $18.99. The firm has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $14.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 17.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $784.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.22%.

First Horizon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

First Horizon Company 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.