SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE:STI) has added itself to the list of companies that are posting better-than-expected quarterly results this reporting season. The financial institution reported earnings per share of $0.89 over revenues of $2.08 billion for the second quarter of 2015 this morning. Wall Street had estimated earnings per share of $0.81 and revenues of $2.02 billion. The bank recorded growth of $0.17 or 24% in earnings per share compared to the prior year, while its revenue dipped by 6% on a year-over-year basis. Nonetheless, shares of SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE:STI) are trading down by 2.01% in early afternoon trading.
William H. Rogers, Jr., chairman and CEO of SunTrust Banks, Inc, said, “Our performance this quarter demonstrates solid execution of our key strategies – deepening client relationships, optimizing the balance sheet, and improving efficiency. This was evidenced by higher revenue, continued deposit growth, and improved returns. In addition, our asset quality performance continues to be strong.” In spite of growth in its earnings per share, SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE:STI) witnessed a drop of 8% in its net interest margin year-over-year, which came in at 2.86% during the quarter, though it was an increase from 2.83% quarter-over-quarter. The metric is a key measurement to judge the profitability of banks. Another is the bank’s efficiency ratio, which was lowered to 63.4% from 63.6% year-over-year. SunTrust executives are aiming to bring it below 63% this year.
The hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had a positive outlook of the banking firm during the first quarter, as 34 hedge fund managers had investments of $348.01 million in the company compared to aggregate holdings of $299.58 million from 29 hedge fund managers to start the quarter. It is important to consider that the hedge fund managers increased their investments in the company despite a 1.93% drop in its share prices during the first quarter. Shares are up by 8.2% since then.
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We also track insider activity, of which there were 13 insider sales at SunTrust in 2015. Raymond D. Fortin, Corporate Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Suntrust Banks Inc, sold 156,469 shares of the bank in 2015, including the recent sale of 39,240 shares on May 19.
Considering the positive hedge fund sentiment surrounding the company, we’re going to check out the key action regarding SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE:STI).
