9,603,540 Shares in Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 9,603,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,245,000. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Beacon Financial as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. NBT Bank N A NY purchased a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Beacon Financial Stock Performance

Beacon Financial stock opened at $28.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.20 and a 200-day moving average of $28.12. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 0.55. Beacon Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $22.81 and a 1-year high of $32.83.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.97%. Sell-side analysts expect that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.3225 per share. This represents a $1.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Beacon Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.61%.

Beacon Financial announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 29th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Beacon Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Beacon Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Beacon Financial from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Hovde Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Beacon Financial in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Beacon Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Beacon Financial

In other news, insider Michael W. Mccurdy sold 17,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.04, for a total transaction of $538,016.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $793,227.20. This represents a 40.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.09% of the company’s stock.

Beacon Financial Company Profile

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.