Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) is a regional bank holding company that provides a full range of banking, wealth management, and insurance services. On April 23, 2026, an analyst from Piper Sandler upgraded Huntington Bancshares to Neutral from Underweight. This action included setting a new price target of $18.00 for the stock.
The upgrade follows the company's better-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2026. As highlighted by Zacks, Huntington Bancshares reported an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.37. This figure beats the consensus estimate of $0.36 and is an increase from the $0.34 per share reported in the same quarter a year ago.
This performance is driven by a 34% growth in revenue, which reached $2.59 billion for the quarter. The increase comes from higher net interest income (NII) and broad-based gains in fee income. NII is the profit a bank makes from the interest it earns on loans versus the interest it pays on deposits.
However, these gains were partly offset by rising non-interest expenses and higher provisions for credit quality issues. As reported by PR Newswire, the company's unadjusted net income was $523 million. The difference between adjusted and unadjusted earnings is mainly due to $271 million in pre-tax acquisition-related expenses.
At the time of the analyst's report, Huntington Bancshares's price was $16.62. The $18.00 price target represents a potential upside of 8.28%. The company has a market capitalization of approximately $24.58 billion, and its stock has traded between a low of $14.09 and a high of $19.46 over the past year.
