/biz/ - Business & Finance

Inorganic Growth Prospects: Backed by robust liquidity position, Huntington is poised to grow via acquisitions. In Aug 2016, Huntington completed the acquisition of FirstMerit Corporation to fortify its Midwest footprint. Further, in Apr 2015, the company closed the acquisition of Australia-based Macquarie Equipment Finance, Inc. Huntington also announced the opening of additional 43 in-store Meijer branches in Michigan. The company continues to move forward by positioning itself for growth and implementing strategic initiatives designed to drive revenue growth.

Revenue Growth: Top-line growth remains a key strength at Huntington, with estimated growth rate of 17.04% for 2016 versus 3.92% for the industry. Moreover, during the reported quarter, revenue displayed an improvement of 24% on a year-over-year basis. Also, management projects total revenue for full-year 2016 to increase by 16%–18%, excluding significant items.

Committed to Shareholders: The company remains focused on managing capital levels efficiently by deploying steady capital activities directed toward enhancing shareholders’ wealth. The company’s board of directors hiked the quarterly common stock dividend by 14% in Oct 2016, bringing the dividend amount to 8 cents per share. Moreover, the 2016 capital plan, which got Fed's approval in Jun 2016, also includes the issuance of capital related to the FirstMerit Corporation acquisition.

Superior Return on Equity: Huntington has an impressive ROE of 9.90%, compared with the industry average of 8.29%. This indicates that the company reinvests more efficiently than its peers.

Upward Estimate Revisions: Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock moved upward by 4.7% to 22 cents per share for the current quarter and by 2.4% to 85 cents per share for the current year.