Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Evercore raised their price target on the stock from $58.00 to $64.00. Evercore currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Truist Financial traded as high as $55.75 and last traded at $55.09, with a volume of 12554318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.03.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on TFC. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays cut Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Truist Financial from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total value of $183,715.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,010.83. This represents a 83.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 74,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,725,811.99. This trade represents a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 21,660 shares of company stock worth $1,075,087 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Truist Financial

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TFC. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 329,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,046,000 after buying an additional 29,191 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in Truist Financial by 12.3% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 336,095 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,366,000 after acquiring an additional 36,916 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Truist Financial by 10.3% in the third quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,591,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $209,936,000 after acquiring an additional 427,067 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Truist Financial by 13.9% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,652,406 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $76,039,000 after acquiring an additional 201,807 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Truist Financial by 26.9% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,965 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,056,000 after acquiring an additional 9,535 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Truist Financial Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $50.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.71. The company has a market capitalization of $71.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.89.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.32 billion. Truist Financial had a net margin of 17.09% and a return on equity of 9.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Truist Financial Corporation will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.59%.

Truist Financial announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.