UPDATE: SunTrust Posts Higher Q1 Earnings

SunTrust Banks

reported a 15% gain in its first-quarter profit. The bank's quarterly profit surged to $405 million, versus a year-ago profit of $352 million. Its per-share earnings rose to $0.73 from $0.63. Its revenue fell 4% to $2.03 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.66 per share on revenue of $2.01 billion. SunTrust's total loans rose 6.9% to $129.2 billion in the period. SunTrust shares closed at $37.95 on Thursday.