Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Increases Stock Holdings in Truist Financial Corporation $TFC

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) by 9.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 355,880 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,300 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Truist Financial were worth $17,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of TFC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Truist Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,959,834,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Truist Financial by 4,821.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 14,172,480 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $697,428,000 after purchasing an additional 13,884,480 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 13,511.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,386,831 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $474,886,000 after purchasing an additional 10,310,523 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Truist Financial in the fourth quarter worth $502,340,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Truist Financial in the second quarter worth $338,855,000. 71.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director K. David Jr. Boyer sold 3,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was 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 approximately $520,689. This represents a 27.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO William H. Rogers, Jr. sold 13,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.36, for a total value of $693,770.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 30,516 shares of company stock valued at $1,584,428 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Truist Financial Stock Performance

Truist Financial stock opened at $50.48 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $51.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $61.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.89. Truist Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $40.78 and a fifty-two week high of $56.19.

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

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Truist Financial’s payout ratio is 47.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TFC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Truist Financial from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $54.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Truist Financial in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Stephens dropped their price target on Truist Financial from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Truist Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $63.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Truist Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.12.

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.