So far this year, Huntington shares have fallen 42%, and they are 58% lower than a year ago.

The bank recently closed on a $150 million stock offering, part of a larger plan revealed in May to raise $675 million as a cushion against a possible second economic downturn. With the newest offering, Huntington has pushed its capital-raising efforts past $1 billion.

"As a result of this offering, our common equity position will be significantly strengthened," said President and CEO Stephen Steinour said in a statement. "Importantly, this will provide additional resources to more aggressively position the company for growth in our core businesses and for better long-term financial performance."

Stability and growth is important for Huntington, a mid-sized player in an industry dominated by much larger banks. Huntington is also among the hundreds of banks that have received funds under the federal governments Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, a debt it, like other banks, would like to get out from under.

In his comments, Steinour said the latest offering gives the bank increased ability to build common equity, a measure of a company's financial state, significantly enhancing the bank's ability "to eventually repay our $1.4 billion of TARP capital."

As with other regional banks -- the bulk of Huntington's branches are in Ohio and Michigan -- the bank has suffered from losses associated with bad loans made during the real-estate bubble earlier in the decade. In July, the bank disappointed analysts by recording much-worse-than-expected losses from such loans.

Such losses present investors with a predicament. On their face, financial stocks seem a good value after massive selling. But it still isn't yet clear how much more fallout there is to come from bad mortgages still on the books and how that may further affect stock performance.