Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) — I last featured HBAN stock as the Trade of the Day in March 2014, when it was trading near $10. My target was $12, and shares ran to a high of $11.21 last week. Patient traders saw a gain of nearly 14% including dividends. That’s not a home run, but singles and doubles count too, especially when compounded over time.
Huntington Bancshares has over 700 branches in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Florida. With the exception of Florida, all of these states were hit with a harsh winter, and this regional bank weathered it well.
The company reported solid fourth-quarter results, including loan growth of 2% from the prior quarter and 10.5% from a year ago. S&P Capital IQ noted these results were better than those of many regional banking peers, a trend its analysts expect to continue in the next year. They have a 12-month price target of $12 on HBAN stock, 15 times 2015 expected EPS of $0.80, which appears to be a conservative projection.
Technically HBAN stock has been trading in a well-defined bull channel with support just below its 200-day moving average at $10. Volume supports the channel with higher volume on days when the stock advanced.
Last week, HBAN stock broke above the resistance line of the bull channel at $11. However, there is a high probability that profit-taking will result in a pullback below its 50-day moving average at $10.45.
Buy HBAN stock under $10.45 with a 12-month target of $13 for a total gain of more than 25% including dividends.
