79,182 Shares in Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT Acquired by New York State Teachers Retirement System

Key Points

• New York State Teachers Retirement System opened a new position in Beacon Financial, buying 79,182 shares valued at about $2.09 million in the fourth quarter.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed: Beacon Financial’s consensus rating is “Hold” with an average price target of $31.75, while several analysts recently trimmed their targets.
• The company recently missed earnings estimates with Q1 EPS of $0.70 versus $0.83 expected, even as it announced a quarterly dividend of $0.3225 per share and a $50 million share buyback.

New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 79,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,088,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.09% of Beacon Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BBT. Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Beacon Financial in the 4th quarter worth $16,448,000. Grace & White Inc. NY bought a new stake in Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,914,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,714,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in Beacon Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,179,000. Finally, Comerica Bank bought a new position in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $1,867,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BBT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Beacon Financial from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. 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 on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Beacon Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Beacon Financial from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Beacon Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.75.

Insider Activity at Beacon Financial

In related news, insider Michael W. Mccurdy sold 17,333 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.04, for a total transaction of $538,016.32. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 25,555 shares in the company, valued at $793,227.20. This trade represents a 40.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Beacon Financial Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:BBT opened at $28.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $30.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.12. Beacon Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.81 and a fifty-two week high of $32.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 0.55.

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). Beacon Financial had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.97%.The business had revenue of $214.72 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts expect that Beacon Financial Corporation will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.3225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.29 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Beacon Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 106.61%.

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

About Beacon Financial

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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