Danske Bank A S Buys New Stake in Truist Financial Corporation $TFC

Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 739,866 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $33,827,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of TFC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Truist Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $487,401,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 13,511.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,386,831 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $474,886,000 after purchasing an additional 10,310,523 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Truist Financial by 203.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,918,994 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $179,176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625,847 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in Truist Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $115,417,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Truist Financial by 4,121.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,335,991 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $100,424,000 after purchasing an additional 2,280,653 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,010.83. This represents a 83.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 74,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,725,811.99. This represents a 14.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on TFC. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Truist Financial from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $69.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.47.

Truist Financial Trading Down 1.6%

TFC opened at $43.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.65. Truist Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.56 and a 1-year high of $56.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.09). Truist Financial had a net margin of 17.09% and a return on equity of 9.03%. The company had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. Truist Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Truist Financial Corporation will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Truist Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 16th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to buy up to 15.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Truist Financial’s payout ratio is 54.59%.

About Truist Financial

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.