Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) Upgraded to Outperform at Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $52.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock.

TFC has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Truist Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Truist Financial from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Truist Financial from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.47.

Truist Financial Stock Up 0.5%

TFC opened at $46.75 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.87. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $33.56 and a fifty-two week high of $56.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.94 and a 200-day moving average of $47.74.

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

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.59%.

Truist Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 16th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to buy up to 15.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of Truist Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total value of $651,690.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 74,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,725,811.99. The trade was a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total value of $183,715.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,010.83. This represents a 83.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Truist Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TFC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,440,153 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,177,722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,529,478 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in Truist Financial by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 108,358,164 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,332,835,000 after acquiring an additional 715,433 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Truist Financial by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,964,393 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,572,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,226,288 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Truist Financial by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,191,122 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,205,855,000 after purchasing an additional 74,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Truist Financial by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,931,279 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,030,028,000 after purchasing an additional 597,255 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.