Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stock Holdings in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,638,130 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 96,892 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.29% of Regions Financial worth $62,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 29.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,729 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Regions Financial by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 17,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Prossimo Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 19,270 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Regions Financial by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 24,382 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in Regions Financial by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 19,173 shares of the bank’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RF. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 target price (up from $28.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup cut their price target on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Regions Financial news, Director Joia M. Johnson purchased 2,300 shares of Regions Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $21.18 per share, with a total value of $48,714.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,353.48. This represents a 15.15 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 3,868 shares of company stock valued at $86,722. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of RF stock opened at $18.64 on Monday. Regions Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $17.72 and a fifty-two week high of $27.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.89.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 12.83%. Regions Financial’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.36%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.55%.

About Regions Financial

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.