Strs Ohio Trims Stake in Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT

Strs Ohio reduced its holdings in Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) by 67.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,800 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Beacon Financial were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,448,000. UBS Group AG purchased a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $18,815,000. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter worth $1,867,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter worth $3,048,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new position in Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter worth $253,245,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Beacon Financial Trading Up 0.6%

BBT traded up $0.20 on Friday, hitting $30.23. 430,445 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 922,979. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.98 and a beta of 0.55. Beacon Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.81 and a 12 month high of $32.83.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.13). Beacon Financial had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $214.72 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts expect that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.3225 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Beacon Financial’s payout ratio is presently 106.61%.

Beacon Financial announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on BBT shares. Raymond James Financial cut Beacon Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Beacon Financial from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Beacon Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Beacon Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

Beacon Financial Company Profile

Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health Truist Financial Corp.