Virtu Financial LLC Purchases 23,203 Shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 227.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,203 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in First Horizon were worth $519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FHN. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Horizon by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 948,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,724,000 after acquiring an additional 285,108 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First Horizon by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 868,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,482,000 after acquiring an additional 100,359 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of First Horizon by 128.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 52,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 29,581 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of First Horizon by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 465,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,229,000 after acquiring an additional 42,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,669,000. 80.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other First Horizon news, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total transaction of $199,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 166,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,323,452.80. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $1,996,255.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 519,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,278,937.02. This represents a 16.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FHN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush cut First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $17.00 target price on First Horizon in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on First Horizon from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stephens increased their target price on First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on First Horizon from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.69.

First Horizon Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:FHN opened at $20.19 on Monday. First Horizon Co. has a twelve month low of $12.95 and a twelve month high of $21.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $18.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.78. The company has a market cap of $10.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

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 $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. First Horizon’s payout ratio is presently 43.48%.

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.