South Dakota Investment Council Raises Stock Holdings in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN)

South Dakota Investment Council grew its stake in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,071,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,501 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in First Horizon were worth $15,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the fourth quarter valued at $71,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of First Horizon by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 108,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 23,000 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of First Horizon by 51.9% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 35,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 12,109 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the fourth quarter valued at $74,000. Finally, BCM Advisors LLC lifted its position in First Horizon by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. BCM Advisors LLC now owns 11,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 1,417 shares during the period. 80.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on First Horizon from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays assumed coverage on First Horizon in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First Horizon from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on First Horizon from $16.00 to $17.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.15.

First Horizon Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of FHN stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $14.88. The company had a trading volume of 4,995,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,092,395. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96. First Horizon Co. has a twelve month low of $8.99 and a twelve month high of $18.52. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.47.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $809.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First Horizon Co. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.96%.

First Horizon announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $650.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.