KBC Group NV Acquires 33,708 Shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 240.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 47,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,708 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in First Horizon were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its position in First Horizon by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 422,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,503,000 after buying an additional 19,353 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the first quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in First Horizon by 1.1% in the first 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 in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in First Horizon by 286.4% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 65,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 48,720 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in First Horizon by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,172,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,262,000 after purchasing an additional 156,020 shares in the last quarter. 80.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FHN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on First Horizon from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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 price target on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of First Horizon from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wedbush downgraded shares of First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.38.

Insider Transactions at First Horizon

In other First Horizon news, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of First Horizon stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 166,840 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,323,452.80. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP David T. Popwell sold 100,974 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.77, for a total transaction of $1,996,255.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 519,926 shares in the company, 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. Insiders own 0.87% of the company’s stock.

First Horizon Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of FHN stock opened at $20.30 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $16.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.14. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $11.87 and a 1-year high of $20.53. The company has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.86.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $821.63 million. First Horizon had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 9.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. First Horizon’s payout ratio is currently 43.48%.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board 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.