Griffith & Werner Inc. Acquires Shares of 131,445 Truist Financial Corporation $TFC

Griffith & Werner Inc. acquired a new stake in Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 131,445 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,931,000. Truist Financial comprises about 3.2% of Griffith & Werner Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in Truist Financial by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 329,093 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,046,000 after acquiring an additional 29,191 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,591,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $209,936,000 after acquiring an additional 427,067 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 336,095 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,366,000 after acquiring an additional 36,916 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 421,809 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $19,285,000 after purchasing an additional 10,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Truist Financial by 18.6% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 169,030 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,728,000 after purchasing an additional 26,530 shares during the period. 71.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Truist Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Truist Financial stock opened at $49.32 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.87. Truist Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.56 and a fifty-two week high of $56.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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

Truist Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 16th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to reacquire up to 15.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.13, for a total value of $651,690.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total transaction of $183,715.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,010.83. This trade represents a 83.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TFC. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays lowered shares of Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Truist Financial from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Truist Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Truist Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.47.

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.