Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) Earns Underperform Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $35.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on TFC. Barclays downgraded shares of Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $56.00 in a report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Truist Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Truist Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $56.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on shares of Truist Financial from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.13.

Truist Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TFC opened at $44.54 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.69, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $49.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.57. Truist Financial has a twelve month low of $33.56 and a twelve month high of $56.19.

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

Truist Financial declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 16th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to buy up to 15.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of Truist Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total value of $183,715.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total value of $651,690.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 74,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,725,811.99. This represents a 14.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Truist Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TFC. Old North State Trust LLC raised its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 133.4% during the 4th quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 49,483 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,435,000 after purchasing an additional 28,279 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning LLC bought a new position in Truist Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $284,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Truist Financial by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 349,742 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,211,000 after buying an additional 31,123 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Truist Financial by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 36,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after buying an additional 8,639 shares during the period. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Truist Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $572,000. 71.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Truist Financial Company 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.