Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 82,686 Shares of Truist Financial Co. (NYSE:TFC)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Truist Financial Co. (NYSE:TFC) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,076,274 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 82,686 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.16% of Truist Financial worth $90,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Truist Financial by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,864,957 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,645,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720,223 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Truist Financial by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,440,951 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,169,350,000 after buying an additional 456,412 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Truist Financial by 6.5% in 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Truist Financial by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,882,885 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $428,720,000 after buying an additional 722,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Truist Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $402,828,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TFC has been the subject of several research reports. HSBC raised shares of Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Truist Financial from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Baird R W raised Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Compass Point increased their target price on Truist Financial from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Truist Financial from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.68.

Truist Financial Price Performance

NYSE:TFC opened at $41.60 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.41. Truist Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $35.09 and a 52 week high of $49.06. The stock has a market cap of $54.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The insurance provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Truist Financial had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 15.59%. The company had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Truist Financial Co. will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. Truist Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.46%.

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.