Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 115,569 Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 115,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,048,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BBT. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $253,245,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,274,000. UBS Group AG acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $18,815,000. Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,448,000. Finally, Grace & White Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,914,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Beacon Financial

In related news, insider Michael W. Mccurdy sold 17,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.04, for a total transaction of $538,016.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $793,227.20. This trade represents a 40.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BBT. Hovde Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Beacon Financial in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research cut shares of Beacon Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Beacon Financial from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.75.

Beacon Financial Price Performance

Beacon Financial stock opened at $29.14 on Wednesday. Beacon Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $22.81 and a 12-month high of $32.83. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.08 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $29.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.13). Beacon Financial had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.97%.The firm had revenue of $214.72 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Beacon Financial announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 29th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.3225 per share. This represents a $1.29 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Beacon Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.