Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Truist Financial Call Options (NYSE:TFC)

Truist Financial Co. (NYSE:TFC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 163,742 call options on the company. This is an increase of 837% compared to the average volume of 17,467 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 shares were sold at an average price of $37.48, for a total value of $141,074.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,132 shares in the company, valued at $604,627.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Truist Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Truist Financial by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,271,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,355,141,000 after acquiring an additional 365,871 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,238,388 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $690,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,248 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Truist Financial by 5.0% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 15,384,890 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $440,162,000 after purchasing an additional 732,801 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Truist Financial by 0.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,364,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $439,568,000 after buying an additional 39,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Truist Financial by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,731,538 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $322,395,000 after buying an additional 883,416 shares during the last quarter. 71.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on TFC. 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 note on Friday, April 5th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Truist Financial from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Truist Financial from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Truist Financial from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Truist Financial from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.06.

Truist Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TFC traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.39. The company had a trading volume of 6,359,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,393,689. The stock has a market cap of $52.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.85, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Truist Financial has a 12 month low of $26.49 and a 12 month high of $40.35.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.12. Truist Financial had a negative net margin of 4.28% and a positive return on equity of 9.15%. The company had revenue of $4.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Truist Financial will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.28%. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -157.58%.

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.