Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) Given Market Perform Rating at Hovde Group

Key Points

• Hovde Group reiterated a market perform rating on Beacon Financial and cut its price target to $30 from $33, implying roughly a 4.9% upside from current levels.
• Beacon missed the latest quarter's EPS ($0.70 vs. $0.83 consensus) on $214.7M revenue, and its board authorized a $50M buyback (about 1.9% of shares outstanding).
• Analysts are mixed—three Buy and four Hold—resulting in a consensus Hold rating with a $32.50 consensus price target, and institutional investors own about 83% of the stock.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market perform" rating reiterated by investment analysts at Hovde Group in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $30.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $33.00. Hovde Group's target price would suggest a potential upside of 4.94% from the company's current price.

BBT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Beacon Financial from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Beacon Financial in a research report on Monday, March 16th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $32.50.

Beacon Financial Price Performance

BBT stock opened at $28.59 on Friday. Beacon Financial has a 52-week low of $22.81 and a 52-week high of $32.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.63 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $30.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.99.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $214.72 million during the quarter. Beacon Financial had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.53%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Beacon Financial will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Beacon Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 29th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Beacon Financial

In other news, insider Michael W. Mccurdy sold 17,333 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.04, for a total value of $538,016.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 25,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $793,227.20. This trade represents a 40.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.09% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Beacon Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter worth $253,245,000. State Street Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $133,275,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $128,643,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new position in Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $128,568,000. Finally, Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter worth $82,619,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

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