Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 59,537 Shares of Truist Financial Corporation $TFC

Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) by 150.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,122 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,537 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Truist Financial were worth $4,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Truist Financial by 148.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 23,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after buying an additional 14,093 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 39.5% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 111,177 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,575,000 after buying an additional 31,454 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Truist Financial in the second quarter worth $575,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 2.8% during the second quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 175,555 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,547,000 after acquiring an additional 4,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 811.0% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,018,457 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $86,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,884 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Truist Financial news, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total transaction of $183,715.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 667 shares in the company, valued at $35,010.83. The trade was a 83.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total transaction of $651,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 74,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,725,811.99. This represents a 14.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays downgraded shares of Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $56.00 in a report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $69.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Truist Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.75.

Truist Financial Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of TFC stock opened at $46.70 on Thursday. 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.58. The company has a market cap of $57.95 billion, a PE ratio of 12.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Truist Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 16th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to reacquire up to 15.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial’s payout ratio is presently 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.