Truist Financial Corporation $TFC Stock Position Lifted by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,492,845 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 168,464 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.66% of Truist Financial worth $388,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 2.7% in the third quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,564 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Leisure Capital Management boosted its position in Truist Financial by 1.2% during the third quarter. Leisure Capital Management now owns 19,985 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC grew its stake in Truist Financial by 4.1% in the third quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 5,900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC increased its position in Truist Financial by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 5,507 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 3,730 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $56.00 to $69.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.47.

Truist Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:TFC opened at $48.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.73, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.87. Truist Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.56 and a 1 year high of $56.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.66.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.32 billion. Truist Financial had a return on equity of 9.03% and a net margin of 17.09%.The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Truist Financial Corporation will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.59%.

Truist Financial declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the insurance provider to reacquire up to 15.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total value of $183,715.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,010.83. This trade represents a 83.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total transaction of $651,690.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 74,323 shares in the company, valued at $3,725,811.99. This trade represents a 14.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Truist Financial Company Profile

Truist Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company that provides a broad range of financial services through its primary subsidiary, Truist Bank, and other operating units. The company offers traditional retail banking products and services such as deposit accounts, consumer and residential mortgage lending, and credit and debit card services. Truist also serves commercial clients with middle-market and corporate lending, treasury and payment solutions, and specialty finance products.

Beyond core banking, Truist operates wealth management, asset management, insurance and capital markets businesses.