Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 37,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,116,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BBT. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in Beacon Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,245,000. State Street Corp bought a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $133,275,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter worth $128,643,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter worth $128,568,000. Finally, Azora Capital LP bought a new position in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter worth $82,619,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BBT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Beacon Financial from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Hovde Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Beacon Financial in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Beacon Financial from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Beacon Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

Beacon Financial Stock Performance

BBT opened at $30.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Beacon Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.81 and a 1 year high of $32.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.31.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $214.72 million during the quarter. Beacon Financial had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.97%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.3225 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Beacon Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.61%.

Beacon Financial announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Beacon Financial Profile

Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health Truist Financial Corp.