BB&T: Financial Winner
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- BB&T (BBT) was the winner among the largest U.S. banking names on Wednesday with shares rising 3% to close at $31.88.
The broad indexes pulled back after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that manufactured durable goods orders in February increased 2.2 percent to $211.8 billion, which was a big improvement from January's 3.7% decline, but was behind the consensus forecast of a 2.9% increase, among economists polled by Thomson Reuters. The Commerce Department said that shipments of durable goods declined 0.4 percent during February.
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Financial stocks strengthened late in the day, with the KBW Bank Index (I:BKX) ending up over 1% to close at 50.13.
BB&T's shares have now returned 27% year-to-date, following a decline of 2% during 2011.
The shares trade for 1.9 times the company's reported Dec. 30 tangible book value of $16.73, and for 11 times the consensus 2012 earnings estimate of $2.89, among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The consensus 2012 EPS estimate is $2.51. Following the completion of the Federal Reserve's 2012 bank holding company stress tests, BB&T on March 13 increased its quarterly dividend by four cents to 20 cents, and also said the regulator hadn't objected to "plans to redeem $3.2 billion of trust preferred securities beginning in 2012 without issuing any replacement capital." The shares now have a dividend yield of 2.51%. Also on March 13, BB&T modified its deal to acquire BankAtlantic Bancorp's (BBX) thrift subsidiary, agreeing to pay a premium of up to $316 million to acquire 78 South Florida branches, along $3.3 billion in deposits, while also agreeing to "assume BankAtlantic Bancorp's obligations with respect to its outstanding trust preferred securities, with an aggregate principal balance of approximately $285 million." The company is scheduled to announce its first-quarter results on April 19. The consensus first-quarter EPS estimate is 56 cents, increasing from 55 cents in the fourth quarter and 32 cents during the first quarter of 2011. Interested in more on BB&T? See TheStreet Ratings' report card for this stock.Select the service that is right for you!
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