Vest Financial LLC Increases Stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,229,136 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,316 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.13% of Regions Financial worth $28,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,252,693 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,562,000 after purchasing an additional 979,597 shares during the period. Cincinnati Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Regions Financial during the first quarter worth about $74,606,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Regions Financial by 17.1% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,965,126 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,421,000 after acquiring an additional 433,319 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Regions Financial by 6.5% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,822,420 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,384,000 after acquiring an additional 171,280 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Regions Financial by 30.9% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,577,350 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,184,000 after acquiring an additional 607,799 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on RF. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush upgraded Regions Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $23.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $24.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.86.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of Regions Financial stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $23.82. 11,191,479 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,926,090. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. Regions Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $13.72 and a 1-year high of $24.47. The company has a market cap of $21.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.95, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.88.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 18.91%. The company’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.35%.

Regions Financial Profile

Regions Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and bank-related services to individual and corporate customers. It operates through three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management. The Corporate Bank segment offers commercial banking services, such as commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and investor real estate lending; equipment lease financing; deposit products; and securities underwriting and placement, loan syndication and placement, foreign exchange, derivatives, merger and acquisition, and other advisory services.