William Rogers, CEO of Truist Financial Corp (TFC), recently picked up 67,000 shares. The buy increased his stake by nearly 7 percent, and came to a total price of just over $4.14 million.
This marks the first insider buy at the bank since July 2020. Otherwise, company insiders have been regular sellers of shares, even as the bank’s price has risen in the past year. The last cluster of insider buying occurred in early-to-mid 2020, amid the covid bear market.
Insiders own 0.3 percent of the company overall.
The bank has performed well in the past year, with shares up 44 percent, beating the returns of the S&P 500 by nearly 50 percent. Shares are attractively valued at less than 13 times forward earnings, although the book value has increased in the past year from 1.0 to 1.33.
Action to take: The bank is unlikely to get bought out given its size, so its book value could continue to move higher. In addition to the high 27 percent profit margin, investors may like shares for the 3.1 percent dividend, which was recently raised.
For traders, the ongoing rise in share price bodes well for a call option trade. The March $65 calls, last going for about $3.25, have the opportunity for mid-to-high double-digit profits in the coming months.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.