Strs Ohio Reduces Stake in Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT

Strs Ohio reduced its holdings in Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) by 67.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor 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 quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BBT. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Beacon Financial in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Beacon Financial in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Hovde Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Beacon Financial in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial downgraded Beacon Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Beacon Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

Beacon Financial Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:BBT traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $30.23. 430,445 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 922,979. The company has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.98 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Beacon Financial Corporation has a one year low of $22.81 and a one year high of $32.83. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.40.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $214.72 million for the quarter. Equities analysts predict that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

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

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

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

About Beacon Financial

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.