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

South Dakota Investment Council raised its position in shares of First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,071,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 41,501 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned about 0.19% of First Horizon worth $15,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 4.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,775,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $625,661,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,977 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in First Horizon by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 994,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,960,000 after buying an additional 137,525 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in First Horizon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,019,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in First Horizon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,222,000. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in First Horizon in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,189,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FHN has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James upgraded shares of First Horizon from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a report on Friday, January 5th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of First Horizon from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective 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 upped their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Horizon presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.15.

First Horizon Price Performance

FHN stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $14.88. The stock had a trading volume of 4,995,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,092,395. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.94. First Horizon Co. has a 52-week low of $8.99 and a 52-week high of $18.52.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $819.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $809.51 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 8.96% and a net margin of 16.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Horizon Co. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, January 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $650.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

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

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.