Comerica Bank Makes New $1.87 Million Investment in Beacon Financial Corporation $BBT

Key Points

• Comerica Bank bought a new position of 70,791 shares of Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT), worth about $1.867 million, representing roughly 0.08% of the company at the end of the quarter.
• Beacon declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3225 (annualized $1.29) for a ~4.5% yield with an ex-dividend date of May 15, and also authorized a $50 million share buyback program (about 1.9% of shares).
• The company reported Q1 EPS of $0.70, missing the $0.83 consensus, and analysts now have a consensus "Hold" rating with a $31.75 price target after several mixed upgrades and downgrades.

Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Beacon Financial Corporation (NYSE:BBT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 70,791 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,867,000. Comerica Bank owned about 0.08% of Beacon Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in Beacon Financial during the fourth quarter worth $76,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BBT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Beacon Financial from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded Beacon Financial from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Raymond James Financial cut Beacon Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Beacon Financial from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.75.

Beacon Financial Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:BBT opened at $28.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Beacon Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $22.81 and a 12-month high of $32.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.08.

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

Beacon Financial Announces Dividend

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

Beacon Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions 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 stock was sold at an average price of $31.04, for a total transaction of $538,016.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at $793,227.20. This trade represents a 40.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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