Truist Financial Corporation $TFC Shares Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) by 10.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,933 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,749 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Truist Financial were worth $4,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of TFC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,740,969 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,892,453,000 after buying an additional 701,049 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 108,358,164 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,332,835,000 after buying an additional 715,433 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Truist Financial by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,964,393 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,572,968,000 after acquiring an additional 2,226,288 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Truist Financial by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,931,279 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,030,028,000 after acquiring an additional 597,255 shares during the period. Finally, Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in Truist Financial by 4,821.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 14,172,480 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $697,428,000 after acquiring an additional 13,884,480 shares during the period. 71.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered Truist Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $63.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Truist Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Truist Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. UBS Group lowered Truist Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Truist Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Truist Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.67.

Insider Activity at Truist Financial

In related news, insider Donta L. Wilson sold 13,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.85, for a total value of $688,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 56,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,904,066.65. This represents a 19.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director K. David Jr. Boyer sold 3,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.70, for a total value of $202,090.20. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,516 shares of company stock worth $1,584,428. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Truist Financial Stock Up 0.2%

TFC opened at $53.08 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $51.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.80. The company has a market cap of $64.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.89. Truist Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $40.78 and a 1 year high of $56.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

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

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 47.71%.

Truist Financial 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.