Lafayette Investments Inc. Sells 3,118 Shares of Truist Financial Co. (NYSE:TFC)

Lafayette Investments Inc. cut its position in shares of Truist Financial Co. (NYSE:TFC) by 39.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,727 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,118 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Truist Financial were worth $205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TFC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Truist Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $402,828,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Truist Financial by 109.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,460,159 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $453,762,000 after buying an additional 5,457,053 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Truist Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $198,051,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Truist Financial by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 23,683,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,040,718,000 after buying an additional 1,450,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,951,283 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $431,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Truist Financial from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens increased their price objective on Truist Financial from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Truist Financial from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.22.

Truist Financial Stock Performance

TFC opened at $36.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.97. Truist Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $33.56 and a 1 year high of $49.06. The company has a market capitalization of $47.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.91.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The insurance provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Truist Financial had a net margin of 15.59% and a return on equity of 9.32%. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. Truist Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Truist Financial Co. will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.75%. Truist Financial’s payout ratio is 62.46%.

Truist Financial Company Profile

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.