Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on TFC. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Truist Financial from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $52.00 target price on shares of Truist Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Truist Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Truist Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.82.

Truist Financial Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of Truist Financial stock opened at $50.16 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.50. The company has a market cap of $60.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Truist Financial has a 1 year low of $43.13 and a 1 year high of $56.19.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 16th. The insurance provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $5.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.35 billion. Truist Financial had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Truist Financial will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Truist Financial

In other news, CEO Michael Lyons purchased 25,000 shares of Truist Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $48.36 per share, for a total transaction of $1,209,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 46,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,224,560. This represents a 119.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Truist Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TFC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Truist Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,959,834,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Truist Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $338,855,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Truist Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $257,208,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Truist Financial in the second quarter valued at about $151,526,000. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB bought a new stake in Truist Financial in the first quarter valued at about $124,144,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

About Truist Financial

Truist Financial Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, operating through its principal subsidiary, Truist Bank. The company provides banking, lending, investment, insurance and wealth management services to consumers, small businesses, commercial clients and institutional customers.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, consumer loans, credit cards, commercial and industrial lending, treasury and payment services, investment banking, brokerage, asset management and insurance products.