Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) Shares Cross Below 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $49.50 and traded as low as $49.24. Truist Financial shares last traded at $49.3790, with a volume of 6,452,012 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on TFC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Truist Financial from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Stephens lowered their target price on Truist Financial from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Truist Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on Truist Financial from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.82.

Truist Financial Stock Down 1.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $59.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.50.

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

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.61%.

Insider Activity at Truist Financial

In other Truist Financial news, CEO Michael Lyons bought 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $48.36 per share, with a total value of $1,209,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 46,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,224,560. The trade was a 119.05% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Truist Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TFC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Truist Financial in the second quarter worth about $4,959,834,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Truist Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $338,855,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Truist Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $257,208,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Truist Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $151,526,000. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB bought a new stake in Truist Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $124,144,000. 71.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.