Lafayette Investments Inc. Purchases 1,800 Shares of Truist Financial Co. (NYSE:TFC)

Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Truist Financial Co. (NYSE:TFC) by 25.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,845 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Truist Financial were worth $327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fonville Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Truist Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $225,000. Trust Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 19,077 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 1,228 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 174,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,446,000 after buying an additional 4,860 shares in the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 10,684 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 63.2% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,925 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 1,133 shares in the last quarter. 71.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TFC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Truist Financial from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Stephens raised Truist Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Truist Financial from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TheStreet cut Truist Financial from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Truist Financial from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.47.

Truist Financial Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE TFC traded up $0.90 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $36.61. 1,979,120 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,566,542. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.37. Truist Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $25.56 and a 12 month high of $39.29.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The insurance provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Truist Financial had a positive return on equity of 9.64% and a negative net margin of 3.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Truist Financial Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.68%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently -192.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director K. David Jr. Boyer sold 3,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.48, for a total transaction of $141,074.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $604,627.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

About Truist Financial

Truist Financial Corporation, a financial services company, provides banking and trust services in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth, Corporate and Commercial Banking, and Insurance Holdings. Its deposit products include noninterest-bearing checking, interest-bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts.