Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) is one of the 10 Best Bank Stocks to Buy in 2026.
On February 9, JPMorgan analyst Andrew Dietrich raised his target price on Huntington Bancshares by 5.0% to $21 (from $20) and kept his Overweight call on the stock. This TP update comes as JPMorgan updated its models for large-cap banks following the release of the 4th quarter results.
The firm thinks bank stocks could outperform the broader market in 2026, citing five reasons: (1) Good economic trends, (2) Steady fundamentals, (3) Sticky inflation, which would prevent the US Fed from cutting rates too much in the long term (although he does think the Fed will cut rates twice in 2026), (4) Favorable regulatory environment, and (5) An uptick in bank consolidations, as shown by the recent M&A activity amongst banks.
As for Huntington, it released its Q4 2025 earnings on January 22, which were headlined by 16.6% YoY growth in attributable net income to $618 million (from $530 million), after adjusting for $118 million in one-time acquisition-related expenses. On a per share basis, adjusted diluted earnings increased 8.8% to $0.37 (from $0.34). This earnings growth yielded a 6-basis-point YoY improvement in adjusted return on average assets to 1.11% (from 1.05%), but a 40-basis-point YoY decline in adjusted return on average common equity to 10.60%.
This adjusted earnings growth was driven primarily by a 14.1% YoY increase in net interest income (NII), which in turn was driven by growth in earning assets and, to a lesser extent, expansion in net interest margins (NIM). Earning assets grew 9.3% YoY to $202.5 billion (from $185.2 billion). Commercial loan growth accounted for 88% of this $17.3 billion increase, growing 21.3% YoY to $87.1 billion (from $71.8 billion). This asset growth was supported by a $13.8 billion increase in deposits to $173.2 billion (from $159.4 billion) and a $0.9 billion increase in net debt to $18.2 billion (from $17.3 billion).
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NIMs, meanwhile, expanded 12 basis points YoY to 3.15% (from 3.03%), as the average cost of funds fell faster than the bank’s yields on its earning assets. On the cost side, the average cost of funds improved 36 basis points YoY (from 3.01% to 2.65%). On the yields side, average yields on loans fell 5 basis points YoY to 5.84% (from 5.89%), while average yields on investment securities deteriorated 64 basis points YoY to 3.46% (from 4.10%). Combined, average earning asset yields declined by 17% YoY to 5.25% (from 5.42%).
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) is a holding company that owns and operates Huntington Bank. The bank operates in two segments: (1) Consumer and Regional Banking and (2) Commercial Banking. The company is based in Columbus, Ohio, and was founded in 1866.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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