Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Trims Stake in Truist Financial Corporation $TFC

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. lessened its position in Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) by 60.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 116,120 shares during the quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Truist Financial were worth $3,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TFC. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Truist Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,959,834,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Truist Financial by 4,821.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 14,172,480 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $697,428,000 after purchasing an additional 13,884,480 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 13,511.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,386,831 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $474,886,000 after buying an additional 10,310,523 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Truist Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $502,340,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Truist Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $338,855,000. 71.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Truist Financial news, Director K. David Jr. Boyer sold 3,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.70, for a total transaction of $202,090.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,270 shares in the company, valued at $520,689. This trade represents a 27.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Donta L. Wilson sold 13,280 shares of Truist Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.85, for a total value of $688,568.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 56,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,904,066.65. This trade represents a 19.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 30,516 shares of company stock worth $1,584,428 in the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TFC shares. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 price target (up from $54.00) on shares of Truist Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Truist Financial from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Truist Financial from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Truist Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.12.

Truist Financial Price Performance

Truist Financial stock opened at $50.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $61.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $51.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.71. Truist Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $40.78 and a 1 year high of $56.19.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The insurance provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.15. Truist Financial had a net margin of 19.13% and a return on equity of 10.06%. The business had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Truist Financial Corporation will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 47.71%.

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.