BB&T Corporation (BBT) Position Cut by SPC Financial Inc.

SPC Financial Inc. lowered its stake in BB&T Corporation (NYSE:BBT) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,844 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc.’s holdings in BB&T Corporation were worth $402,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in BB&T Corporation by 3.4% in the first quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,892,901 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $174,020,000 after buying an additional 126,549 shares during the period. Heritage Trust Co bought a new stake in BB&T Corporation during the first quarter valued at about $2,371,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its stake in BB&T Corporation by 4.8% in the first quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 270,317 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,083,000 after buying an additional 12,302 shares during the period. Glen Harbor Capital Management LLC raised its stake in BB&T Corporation by 47.5% in the first quarter. Glen Harbor Capital Management LLC now owns 23,426 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after buying an additional 7,548 shares during the period. Finally, HRT Financial LLC raised its stake in BB&T Corporation by 26.2% in the first quarter. HRT Financial LLC now owns 9,179 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 1,908 shares during the period. 64.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Shares of BB&T Corporation (BBT) opened at 46.16 on Friday. BB&T Corporation has a one year low of $36.75 and a one year high of $49.88. The company has a market capitalization of $37.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $46.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.22.

BB&T Corporation (NYSE:BBT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The insurance provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.77. BB&T Corporation had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 19.57%. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that BB&T Corporation will post $2.84 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from BB&T Corporation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 9th. BB&T Corporation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.25%.

BB&T Corporation declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.88 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to purchase up to 5.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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BBT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Macquarie upgraded BB&T Corporation from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. BidaskClub upgraded BB&T Corporation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 10th. Hilliard Lyons upgraded BB&T Corporation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. FBR & Co restated a “hold” rating on shares of BB&T Corporation in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of BB&T Corporation in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.19.

In other news, EVP William Rufus Yates sold 28,515 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.07, for a total transaction of $1,342,201.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,642,131.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Robert Jerome Johnson, Jr. sold 18,343 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.19, for a total value of $865,606.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

BB&T Corporation Company Profile

BB&T Corporation is a financial holding company. The Company conducts its business operations primarily through its bank subsidiary, Branch Banking and Trust Company (Branch Bank), and other nonbank subsidiaries. Its segments include Community Banking, Residential Mortgage Banking, Dealer Financial Services, Specialized Lending, Insurance Holdings and Financial Services.