Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases Shares of 18,200 Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT

Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 18,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $554,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BBT. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Beacon Financial by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 626,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,783,000 after purchasing an additional 13,249 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Beacon Financial by 146.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 49,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,495,000 after buying an additional 29,636 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Beacon Financial by 27.4% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 101,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,054,000 after buying an additional 21,870 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Beacon Financial by 5.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 36,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Beacon Financial by 7.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 331,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,932,000 after acquiring an additional 22,180 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Beacon Financial Stock Performance

Shares of BBT stock opened at $31.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.93 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.18. Beacon Financial Corporation has a one year low of $22.81 and a one year high of $32.83.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77. The firm had revenue of $219.19 million for the quarter. Beacon Financial had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 8.96%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Beacon Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.3225 per share. This represents a $1.29 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Beacon Financial’s payout ratio is currently 97.73%.

Beacon Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BBT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Beacon Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Beacon Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Hovde Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Beacon Financial in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

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.