21,000 Shares in First Hawaiian, Inc. $FHB Purchased by ARS Investment Partners LLC

ARS Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in First Hawaiian, Inc. (NASDAQ:FHB) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,000 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in First Hawaiian by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,457,575 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $365,777,000 after acquiring an additional 358,632 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of First Hawaiian by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,380,268 shares of the bank’s stock worth $161,423,000 after purchasing an additional 221,492 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of First Hawaiian by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,883,194 shares of the bank’s stock worth $146,845,000 after purchasing an additional 77,478 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Hawaiian by 68.6% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,720,826 shares of the bank’s stock worth $94,137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,465 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Hawaiian by 131.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,891,661 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,644,752 shares during the period. 97.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on First Hawaiian from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Stephens set a $28.00 target price on First Hawaiian in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded First Hawaiian from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen cut First Hawaiian from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on First Hawaiian from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, First Hawaiian presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $27.56.

First Hawaiian Price Performance

FHB opened at $27.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.24. First Hawaiian, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.65 and a twelve month high of $29.03.

First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $220.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $223.59 million. First Hawaiian had a net margin of 24.44% and a return on equity of 10.39%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Hawaiian, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Hawaiian Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. First Hawaiian’s payout ratio is presently 45.61%.

First Hawaiian Company Profile

First Hawaiian, Inc is the oldest and largest bank in Hawaii, operating as the bank holding company for First Hawaiian Bank. Established in 1858, the company offers a full suite of financial services to individual, business and institutional clients. Its product portfolio includes consumer and commercial lending, deposit accounts, treasury and cash management, foreign exchange and trade finance, as well as wealth management and trust services.

First Hawaiian serves customers through an extensive network of branches, ATMs and digital channels across the Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa.