Maltese Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT

Maltese Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 220,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $735,000. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,873,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado acquired a new position in shares of Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Mariner LLC acquired a new position in shares of Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $264,000. Finally, Barclays PLC acquired a new position in shares of Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,789,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Beacon Financial Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE BBT opened at $29.78 on Tuesday. Beacon Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.81 and a twelve month high of $32.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $29.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.90.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.13). Beacon Financial had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.97%.The firm had revenue of $214.72 million for the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Beacon Financial declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 29th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.3225 per share. This represents a $1.29 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Beacon Financial’s payout ratio is presently 106.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on BBT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Beacon Financial from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Hovde Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Beacon Financial in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Beacon Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.75.

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.