Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $69.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $56.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 33.05% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on TFC. Citigroup increased their price target on Truist Financial from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Truist Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Evercore raised their target price on shares of Truist Financial from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Truist Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.47.

Truist Financial Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of TFC opened at $51.86 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $50.94 and its 200 day moving average is $47.08. Truist Financial 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 stock has a market capitalization of $66.34 billion, a PE ratio of 13.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.89.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $5.25 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 firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Truist Financial will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Truist Financial declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 16th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase up to 15.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Truist Financial

In other news, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total value of $183,715.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 667 shares in the company, valued at $35,010.83. This represents a 83.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total value of $651,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 74,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,725,811.99. The trade was a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 21,660 shares of company stock worth $1,075,087 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TFC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Truist Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $487,401,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 13,511.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,386,831 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $474,886,000 after purchasing an additional 10,310,523 shares during the period. American Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 781.3% in the 4th quarter. American Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,384,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $166,527,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000,000 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,500,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $516,732,000 after buying an additional 2,867,449 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 203.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,918,994 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $179,176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625,847 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Truist Financial Company Profile

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.