Verition Fund Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,270,482 Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT

Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,270,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,873,000. Verition Fund Management LLC owned approximately 2.71% of Beacon Financial as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Beacon Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BBT opened at $30.40 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.12 and a beta of 0.56. Beacon Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.81 and a 52-week high of $32.83.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $214.72 million for the quarter. Beacon Financial had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.02%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.3225 per share. This represents a $1.29 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Beacon Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.61%.

Beacon Financial declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Beacon Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.75.

Beacon Financial 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.