Huntington Bancshares, Inc. [NASDAQ: HBAN] loss -2.20% on the last trading session, reaching $13.31 price per share at the time. The company report on March 21, 2024 at 11:26 AM that Capstone Partners Reports: Middle Market M&A Valuations Soften, Market Participants are Optimistic for a Recovery in 2024.
Capstone Partners, a leading middle market investment banking firm, released its 2023 Middle Market M&A Valuations Index, reporting that while equity markets largely shrugged off the rapid succession of interest rate hikes in 2023, middle market merger and acquisition (M&A) valuations experienced downward pressure. Elevated transaction costs, uncertainty over projected cash flows, and a reserved private equity buyer pool contributed to average M&A valuations falling to 9.6x EV/EBITDA in 2023, compared to 9.9x in 2022. Several deals that transacted at premium valuations helped to bolster this average, while the median EBITDA multiple fell more drastically to 8.0x EV/EBITDA compared to 8.5x in the prior year. While business owners encountered a challenging valuation environment, several bright spots of the market have provided optimism for resilience and recovery in transaction value in 2024. Notably, average three-year EBITDA purchase multiples in the Business Services, FinTech & Services, Industrial Technology, Technology, Media & Telecom, and Transportation, Logistics & Supply Chain industries improved on a year-over-year (YOY) basis.
Buyers demonstrated heightened discipline in middle market M&A processes in 2023, refraining from overextending themselves to acquire target companies. While high-quality assets still commanded solid buyer interest and competition in bidding, market clearing bids were less frequent than in prior years. In 2023, 31% of transactions closed at 10x EBITDA or higher—a decline from 38% in 2022 and 43% in 2021. This may have coincided with buyers moving to lower levels of the middle market, a common occurrence amid market uncertainty. The average enterprise value of sold target companies amounted to $89.4 million, a substantial drop from $139.3 million in 2022. When buyers did pay premium multiples, typically these businesses had demonstrated gross margin defensibility, healthy revenue visibility, and sustained product or service demand.
If compared to the average trading volume of 17.89M shares, HBAN reached a trading volume of 11865608 in the most recent trading day, which is why market watchdogs consider the stock to be active.
Here is what top equities market gurus are saying about Huntington Bancshares, Inc. [HBAN]:
Based on careful and fact-backed analyses by Wall Street experts, the current consensus on the target price for HBAN shares is $14.52 per share. Analysis on target price and performance of stocks is usually carefully studied by market experts, and the current Wall Street consensus on HBAN stock is a recommendation set at 2.22. This rating represents a strong Buy recommendation, on the scale from 1 to 5, where 5 would mean strong sell, 4 represents Sell, 3 is Hold, and 2 indicates Buy.
DA Davidson have made an estimate for Huntington Bancshares, Inc. shares, keeping their opinion on the stock as Buy, with their previous recommendation back on February 27, 2024. While these analysts kept the previous recommendation, UBS raised their target price from $14 to $15. The new note on the price target was released on February 14, 2024, representing the official price target for Huntington Bancshares, Inc. stock. Previously, the target price had yet another raise from $10.50 to $15, while Evercore ISI kept a Outperform rating on HBAN stock. On January 02, 2024, analysts increased their price target for HBAN shares from 12 to 15.
The Average True Range (ATR) for Huntington Bancshares, Inc. is set at 0.31, with the Price to Sales ratio for HBAN stock in the period of the last 12 months amounting to 1.80. The Price to Book ratio for the last quarter was 1.14. Price to Free Cash Flow for HBAN in the course of the last twelve months was 7.16.
Trading performance analysis for HBAN stock
Huntington Bancshares, Inc. [HBAN] gain into the green zone at the end of the last week, gaining into a positive trend and gaining by 1.99. With this latest performance, HBAN shares gained by 3.50% in over the last four-week period, additionally plugging by 28.10% over the last 6 months – not to mention a rise of 24.86% in the past year of trading.
Overbought and oversold stocks can be easily traced with the Relative Strength Index (RSI), where an RSI result of over 70 would be overbought, and any rate below 30 would indicate oversold conditions. An RSI rate of 50 would represent a neutral market momentum. The current RSI for HBAN stock in for the last two-week period is set at 54.40, with the RSI for the last a single of trading hit 53.16, and the three-weeks RSI is set at 55.13 for Huntington Bancshares, Inc. [HBAN]. The present Moving Average for the last 50 days of trading for this stock 12.90, while it was recorded at 13.25 for the last single week of trading, and 11.57 for the last 200 days.
Huntington Bancshares, Inc. [HBAN]: A deeper dive into fundamental analysis
Huntington Bancshares, Inc.’s liquidity data is similarly interesting compelling, with a Current Ratio set at 0.08.
Huntington Bancshares, Inc. [HBAN]: An earnings per share (EPS) analysis
With the latest financial reports released by the company, Huntington Bancshares, Inc. posted 0.39/share EPS, while the average EPS was predicted by analysts to be reported at 0.37/share. When compared, the two values demonstrate that the company surpassed the estimates by a Surprise Factor of 5.40%. The progress of the company may be observed through the prism of EPS growth rate, while Wall Street analysts are focusing on predicting the 5-year EPS growth rate for HBAN. When it comes to the mentioned value, analysts are expecting to see the 5-year EPS growth rate for Huntington Bancshares, Inc. go to -5.50%.
An analysis of Institutional ownership at Huntington Bancshares, Inc. [HBAN]
The top three institutional holders of HBAN stocks are: VANGUARD GROUP INC with ownership of 1.3 billion shares, which is approximately 8.2815%. BLACKROCK INC., holding 1.03 billion shares of the stock with an approximate value of $176.59 billion in HBAN stocks shares; and BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC, currently with $156.75 billion in HBAN stock with ownership which is approximately 5.8325%.
