First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01, RTT News reports. First Horizon had a return on equity of 8.96% and a net margin of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $819.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $809.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

First Horizon Trading Up 2.4 %

First Horizon stock opened at $14.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.94. First Horizon has a one year low of $8.99 and a one year high of $18.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a PE ratio of 10.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $14.55 and its 200 day moving average is $13.37.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.96%.

First Horizon announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 23rd that allows the company to buyback $650.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Horizon

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FHN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in First Horizon by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,946,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $806,359,000 after purchasing an additional 171,222 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in First Horizon by 5.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,689,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $281,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321,075 shares during the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its position in First Horizon by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 10,162,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $143,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,500 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in First Horizon by 9.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,849,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $184,381,000 after purchasing an additional 704,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in First Horizon by 2.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,740,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,256,000 after purchasing an additional 145,977 shares during the last quarter. 80.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FHN shares. Barclays initiated coverage on First Horizon in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upgraded First Horizon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $15.50 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on First Horizon from $16.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on First Horizon from $17.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First Horizon from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.15.

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.