Howe & Rusling Inc. Makes New Investment in Truist Financial Corporation $TFC

Howe & Rusling Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 11,251 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Truist Financial during the second quarter worth about $487,401,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 203.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,918,994 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $179,176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625,847 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 4,121.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,335,991 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $100,424,000 after purchasing an additional 2,280,653 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Truist Financial by 811.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,018,457 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $86,773,000 after buying an additional 1,796,884 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Truist Financial by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,440,153 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,177,722,000 after buying an additional 1,529,478 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TFC has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Truist Financial from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Truist Financial from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Truist Financial from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Truist Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.60.

Insider Activity

In other Truist Financial news, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total value of $651,690.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 74,323 shares in the company, valued at $3,725,811.99. This represents a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total value of $183,715.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 667 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,010.83. The trade was a 83.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,660 shares of company stock worth $1,075,087. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Truist Financial Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE TFC opened at $55.17 on Friday. Truist Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.56 and a 1 year high of $55.74. The company has a market capitalization of $70.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.89. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $50.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.63.

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

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial’s payout ratio is currently 54.59%.

Truist Financial declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 16th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to buy up to 15.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.