Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) to “Outperform”

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $18.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $16.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on FHN. Barclays began coverage on First Horizon in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They set an overweight rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded First Horizon from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group raised First Horizon from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the company from $15.50 to $16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of First Horizon in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on First Horizon from $17.00 to $17.50 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Horizon has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $15.46.

First Horizon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FHN opened at $15.15 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.19. The company has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. First Horizon has a twelve month low of $8.99 and a twelve month high of $18.99.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.20 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 17.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that First Horizon will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. First Horizon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.22%.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 purchase up to 7.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Horizon

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the first quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in First Horizon by 55.5% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 756,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,647,000 after purchasing an additional 269,920 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in First Horizon by 9.9% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 38,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 3,520 shares during the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in First Horizon during the first quarter worth $5,417,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in First Horizon during the fourth quarter worth $2,371,000. 80.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.