Investors Purchase Large Volume of Truist Financial Call Options (NYSE:TFC)

Truist Financial Co. (NYSE:TFC) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 25,970 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 85% compared to the typical daily volume of 14,021 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays began coverage on Truist Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Truist Financial from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Truist Financial from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Truist Financial from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Truist Financial from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.17.

Truist Financial Stock Up 2.7 %

NYSE TFC opened at $38.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.06. Truist Financial has a 52 week low of $26.57 and a 52 week high of $40.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $37.89 and a 200-day moving average of $37.13.

Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Truist Financial had a negative net margin of 4.28% and a positive return on equity of 9.15%. The company’s revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Truist Financial will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Truist Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Truist Financial’s payout ratio is -157.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Truist Financial in the fourth quarter worth $307,787,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Truist Financial by 93.7% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,643,242 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $453,854,000 after acquiring an additional 5,632,493 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new position in Truist Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $95,049,000. Azora Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Truist Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $72,498,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Truist Financial by 8.2% during the fourth 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 period. 71.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.