Morgan Stanley Cuts Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) Price Target to $63.00

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $69.00 to $63.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

TFC has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Truist Financial in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Truist Financial from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Truist Financial from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.75.

Truist Financial Stock Performance

Shares of TFC stock opened at $47.18 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $58.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.57. Truist Financial has a 52 week low of $33.56 and a 52 week high of $56.19.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.09). Truist Financial had a return on equity of 9.03% and a net margin of 17.09%.The business had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Truist Financial will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Truist Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 purchase up to 15.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial’s payout ratio is presently 54.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Truist Financial news, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of Truist Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total transaction of $651,690.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 74,323 shares in the company, valued at $3,725,811.99. The trade was a 14.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of Truist Financial 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 667 shares in the company, valued at $35,010.83. This represents a 83.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Truist Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Truist Financial by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 14,713 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $724,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Truist Financial by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 8,205 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Truist Financial by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 2,609 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC raised its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 3,820 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mindset Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,667 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

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.