Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) Price Target Lowered to $33.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Price target lowered to $33: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut its Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) target from $36 to $33 while maintaining an "outperform" rating, implying roughly a 16.3% upside from the prior close.
• Consensus view is "Hold" with a $31.75 target: Analysts are split (three Buys, four Holds), producing a consensus price target of $31.75 while shares recently traded at $28.38 within a 52-week range of $22.81–$32.83.
• Mixed fundamentals and shareholder actions: Beacon missed quarterly EPS ($0.70 vs. $0.83 estimate) but its board authorized a $50 million share buyback (about 1.9% of shares), and an insider sold a significant stake.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT - Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $36.00 to $33.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective points to a potential upside of 16.28% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BBT. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Beacon Financial in a research report on Monday, March 16th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Beacon Financial from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Beacon Financial from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Beacon Financial from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Hovde Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Beacon Financial in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.75.

Beacon Financial Stock Performance

Shares of BBT stock traded down $0.15 on Friday, hitting $28.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 354,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 800,757. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock's 50 day moving average is $30.33 and its 200-day moving average is $27.99. Beacon Financial has a fifty-two week low of $22.81 and a fifty-two week high of $32.83. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.45 and a beta of 0.62.

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

Beacon Financial declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 29th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michael W. Mccurdy sold 17,333 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was 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 $793,227.20. This represents a 40.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Beacon Financial by 11.2% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 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.

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