Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

BBT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Hovde Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Beacon Financial in a report on Friday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Beacon Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.75.

Beacon Financial Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE BBT opened at $28.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $30.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. Beacon Financial has a 52-week low of $22.81 and a 52-week high of $32.83.

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

Beacon Financial declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Beacon Financial

In other news, insider Michael W. Mccurdy sold 17,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.04, for a total value of $538,016.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,555 shares in the company, valued at $793,227.20. This represents a 40.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Beacon Financial by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 44,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,339,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Beacon Financial by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 407,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,220,000 after buying an additional 7,443 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Beacon Financial by 12,076.3% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 72,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,170,000 after buying an additional 71,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Bank & Trust raised its position in Beacon Financial by 31.9% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Bank & Trust now owns 10,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

About Beacon Financial

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.