Beacon Financial Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:BBT)

Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 3,919 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,540% compared to the average volume of 239 call options.

Beacon Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:BBT opened at $30.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $29.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.93. Beacon Financial has a fifty-two week low of $24.11 and a fifty-two week high of $32.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $222.60 million for the quarter. Beacon Financial had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 17.33%. Analysts expect that Beacon Financial will post 3.00 EPS for the current year.

Beacon Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.3225 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 6th. This represents a $1.29 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Beacon Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BBT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Beacon Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised Beacon Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Beacon Financial from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Three investment 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas Hollister acquired 3,450 shares of Beacon Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, October 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.43 per share, with a total value of $104,983.50. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 28,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $878,696.68. The trade was a 13.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have acquired 4,479 shares of company stock valued at $136,275 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.09% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Beacon Financial

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BBT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Beacon Financial during the second quarter valued at $376,552,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Beacon Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,394,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $20,265,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $16,478,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $11,507,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% 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.