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Truist Financial’s net income fell by 33% in the second quarter after the Charlotte, North Carolina, company used the proceeds from the sale of its insurance brokerage subsidiary to pay down costlier investment securities, resulting in substantial securities losses.
Truist’s net income was $826 million for the quarter, down from $1.23 billion in the same period in 2023, the company reported Monday. Earnings per share were 62 cents, falling four cents short of the average estimate from analysts surveyed by FactSet Research Systems.
The quarter was a bit noisy, with Truist selling its remaining 80% stake in its insurance unit and using the $4.8 billion after-tax gain to help pay down lower-yielding securities. The $519.9 billion-asset company announced months ago that it planned to restructure its balance sheet by moving away from higher-yielding securities in favor of shorter-duration ones.
During the quarter, Truist sold $27.7 billion of market value investment securities with a weighted average book yield of 2.80%, and it purchased $18.7 billion of new shorter-duration securities yielding 5.27%.
Also on Monday, the company announced a $5 billion multiyear share repurchase program. Buybacks are expected to begin in the third quarter.