First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) Short Interest Up 9.2% in October

First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,110,000 shares, a growth of 9.2% from the October 15th total of 6,510,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Horizon news, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 16.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total transaction of $199,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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. Company insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in First Horizon by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,574,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,640,000 after purchasing an additional 627,730 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in First Horizon by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,389,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $510,782,000 after buying an additional 3,870,946 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in First Horizon by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,236,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $410,789,000 after buying an additional 4,116,486 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in First Horizon by 28.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,515,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,647,000 after buying an additional 3,470,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in First Horizon by 46.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 14,370,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,626,000 after buying an additional 4,558,129 shares during the last quarter. 80.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Horizon Stock Performance

First Horizon stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $20.28. The stock had a trading volume of 4,435,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,640,071. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $16.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.11. The company has a market capitalization of $10.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.86. First Horizon has a 52-week low of $11.87 and a 52-week high of $20.53. 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 (NYSE:FHN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $821.63 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 15.43%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that First Horizon will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

First Horizon announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 29th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on FHN shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Horizon currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.38.

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.