Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $54.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $62.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings raised Truist Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Stephens began coverage on Truist Financial in a research report on Monday, June 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $59.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird lowered Truist Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup downgraded Truist Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $63.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $57.00 to $51.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.38.

Truist Financial Price Performance

NYSE:TFC opened at $51.64 on Monday. Truist Financial has a 52 week low of $40.78 and a 52 week high of $56.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.39. The firm has a market cap of $64.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.89.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 17th. The insurance provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. Truist Financial had a net margin of 18.14% and a return on equity of 9.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Truist Financial will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial’s payout ratio is currently 51.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Truist Financial by 30.0% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. now owns 174,839 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,994,000 after acquiring an additional 40,393 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,902,804 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $361,316,000 after purchasing an additional 655,542 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank increased its stake in Truist Financial by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 335,969 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,361,000 after purchasing an additional 24,745 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 45,749 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,251,000 after buying an additional 21,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its holdings in Truist Financial by 57.8% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 105,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,206,000 after purchasing an additional 38,750 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

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.