First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) Shares Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 106.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 622,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 321,098 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.12% of First Horizon worth $9,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in First Horizon by 46.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 14,370,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $226,626,000 after purchasing an additional 4,558,129 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the second quarter valued at approximately $66,779,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of First Horizon by 13.6% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 3,870,946 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 28.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,515,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,647,000 after acquiring an additional 3,470,346 shares during the period. Finally, Sculptor Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 10,200,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $160,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FHN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $17.00 price objective on First Horizon in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens increased their price target on First Horizon from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wedbush cut shares of First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of First Horizon from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 166,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,323,452.80. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total value of $1,996,255.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 519,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,278,937.02. The trade was a 16.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

First Horizon Stock Performance

FHN opened at $20.17 on Friday. First Horizon Co. has a 1-year low of $11.87 and a 1-year high of $20.53. The stock has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Horizon Co. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.48%.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 29th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.