South Dakota Investment Council Sells 15,530 Shares of Truist Financial Corporation $TFC

South Dakota Investment Council reduced its holdings in shares of Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 283,434 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 15,530 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Truist Financial were worth $12,959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TFC. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Truist Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $487,401,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Truist Financial by 203.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,918,994 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $179,176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625,847 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Truist Financial by 4,121.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,335,991 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $100,424,000 after buying an additional 2,280,653 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 811.0% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,018,457 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $86,773,000 after buying an additional 1,796,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,440,153 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,177,722,000 after buying an additional 1,529,478 shares during the last quarter. 71.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Truist Financial in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Truist Financial from $51.50 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.47.

Truist Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:TFC opened at $49.60 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.61. The stock has a market cap of $61.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.89. Truist Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.56 and a twelve month high of $56.19.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The insurance provider reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.32 billion. Truist Financial had a return on equity of 9.03% and a net margin of 17.09%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Truist Financial Corporation will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.59%.

Truist Financial announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 15.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Truist Financial

In other news, CAO Cynthia B. Powell sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.49, for a total value of $183,715.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 667 shares in the company, valued at $35,010.83. This trade represents a 83.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Baron Maguire sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 74,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,725,811.99. The trade was a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Truist Financial Company 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.