Bank of America Upgrades First Hawaiian Bank (FHB) to Buy

First Hawaiian Bank (NASDAQ:FHB) was upgraded by Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $35.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $34.00. Bank of America’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 18.24% from the stock’s previous close.

FHB has been the topic of several other reports. Zacks Investment Research lowered First Hawaiian Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 27th. UBS Group began coverage on First Hawaiian Bank in a research report on Thursday, March 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. BidaskClub upgraded First Hawaiian Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First Hawaiian Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

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Shares of First Hawaiian Bank stock opened at $29.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.44. First Hawaiian Bank has a 12 month low of $26.30 and a 12 month high of $32.36.

First Hawaiian Bank (NASDAQ:FHB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 26th. The bank reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $139.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $136.66 million. First Hawaiian Bank had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 24.70%. The company’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. sell-side analysts anticipate that First Hawaiian Bank will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, Director Paribas Bnp sold 15,300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.56, for a total transaction of $421,668,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Robert S. Harrison purchased 10,000 shares of First Hawaiian Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.44 per share, for a total transaction of $284,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 44,129 shares in the company, valued at $1,255,028.76. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in First Hawaiian Bank in the 1st quarter worth approximately $14,396,000. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in First Hawaiian Bank by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC now owns 2,262,646 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,969,000 after buying an additional 292,947 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in First Hawaiian Bank by 206.2% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 403,178 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,220,000 after buying an additional 271,491 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in First Hawaiian Bank by 1,597.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 280,505 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,806,000 after buying an additional 263,979 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new stake in First Hawaiian Bank in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,327,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.92% of the company’s stock.

About First Hawaiian Bank

First Hawaiian, Inc operates as a bank holding company for First Hawaiian Bank that provides a range of banking services to consumer and commercial customers in the United States. It operates through Retail Banking and Commercial Banking segments. The company accepts various deposit products, such as checking and savings accounts, and time deposit accounts.