Truist Financial Corporation $TFC Shares Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,053,939 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,160 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Truist Financial were worth $150,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in Truist Financial by 0.3% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 107,642,731 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,921,717,000 after buying an additional 346,423 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Truist Financial by 8.4% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 10,445,658 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $477,575,000 after buying an additional 813,177 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Truist Financial by 13,511.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,386,831 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $474,886,000 after buying an additional 10,310,523 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Truist Financial by 2.0% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,492,845 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $388,300,000 after buying an additional 168,464 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Truist Financial by 9.0% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,902,804 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $361,316,000 after buying an additional 655,542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total transaction of $651,690.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 74,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,725,811.99. This represents a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 $35,010.83. This represents a 83.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on TFC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Truist Financial from $57.00 to $51.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Truist Financial in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Truist Financial from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 31st. Argus boosted their target price on Truist Financial from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $47.00 to $56.00 in a report on Monday, January 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Truist Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.41.

Truist Financial Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:TFC opened at $49.63 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $61.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.74. Truist Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $34.52 and a 12-month high of $56.19.

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

Truist Financial declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 16th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to buy up to 15.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.59%.

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.