SunTrust Banks Inc announced that it has declared a regularly cash dividend of 0.01 per common share payable June 15, 2010 to shareholders of record on June 1, 2010. The board of directors also announced a quarterly cash dividend of $!,022.22 per share on SunTrust's Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series A.
SunTrust announced it is creating a consumer banking unit as the regional Atlanta-based bank follows larger rivals in reorganizing ahead of regulatory reform. The bank named C.T. Hill to lead the new consumer banking unit, which includes its deposit and lending products.
SunTrust Banks declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.01 per common share, payable on March 15, 2010 to shareholders of record on March 1, 2010.
SunTrust will convert the company's debit card programs to MasterCard. After the conversion to MasterCard-branded debit cards, SunTrust will issue five million MasterCard debit cards usable everywhere MasterCard debit cards are accepted. SunTrust also plans to expand its current commercial card offering to include MasterCard branded credit cards. It will also continue to offer Visa for various options.
Mike Marz, president and CEO of Sun Trust Bank announced that John R. Cole, Ph. D of Tifton has been elected to Sun Trust Board of Directors.
In Q4 08, STI suffered a profit loss of $347.6 million due to weaker credit. In response, the bank has cut its dividend by 84%. Also, STI has boosted its Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to $4.9 billion.
Ladenburg Thalmann's Richard Bove has cut his price target of STI from $42 to $37. Bove foresees that STI now approves bad loans and takes more risks. STI Q3 profits decreased 26% because of covering losses from loans.
Tom Freeman named Chief Risk Officer
A May 8 article in Forbes Magazine states that Jamie Dimon, CEO of J. P. Morgan, is looking to acquire a U.S. regional bank in a "high growth area". As economic growth in the Southeastern United States has outpaced that of the rest of the country, and SunTrust is particularly strong in this region, there was speculation that JPMorgan may be planning to pay a premium to purchase SunTrust.
Between January 4th, 2007 and January 10th, 2007, SunTrust’s stock fell almost 3%. This drop was precipitated by a lowering of estimates by analysts from Ryan Beck & Company. Overall, the analyst forecasted lower earnings per share moving forward.
SunTrust’s stock rises 5%. This was partially a result of SunTrust’s positive financial results and forward leaning statements on November 8th as well as the announcement that SunTrust would be getting a new, dynamic CEO.
