Blue Trust Inc. Increases Stock Position in Truist Financial Corporation $TFC

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

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 9.7% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 329,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,046,000 after acquiring an additional 29,191 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Truist Financial by 10.3% during the third quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,591,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $209,936,000 after acquiring an additional 427,067 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Truist Financial by 12.3% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 336,095 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,366,000 after acquiring an additional 36,916 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Truist Financial by 2.6% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 421,809 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,285,000 after acquiring an additional 10,706 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Truist Financial by 18.6% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 169,030 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,728,000 after purchasing an additional 26,530 shares during the last quarter. 71.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Truist Financial news, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of Truist Financial stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $35,010.83. The trade was a 83.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of Truist Financial stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 74,323 shares in the company, valued at $3,725,811.99. This represents a 14.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Truist Financial Price Performance

NYSE TFC opened at $46.70 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $49.20 and its 200 day moving average is $47.58. Truist Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.56 and a fifty-two 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 0.87. The company has a market capitalization 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.09). Truist Financial had a return on equity of 9.03% and a net margin of 17.09%.The company had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Truist Financial Corporation will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Truist Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Truist Financial in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given 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 an average target price of $54.75.

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.