First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) Board Approves Share Repurchase Program

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 29th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 10.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FHN. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of First Horizon from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Raymond James lowered First Horizon from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on First Horizon from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on First Horizon from $18.50 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of First Horizon in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.77.

First Horizon Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of FHN traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $17.30. The stock had a trading volume of 4,397,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,575,025. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.71. First Horizon has a 1-year low of $10.50 and a 1-year high of $17.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.88.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. First Horizon had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 15.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $821.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that First Horizon will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. First Horizon’s payout ratio is 41.96%.

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.