Forsta AP Fonden Lowers Stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 8.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 212,300 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 19,000 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $4,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 75.6% during the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 530.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America upped their target price on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com raised Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.51.

Regions Financial Price Performance

NYSE:RF opened at $21.97 on Friday. Regions Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $23.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $21.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.28.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 18.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Regions Financial Co. will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a positive change from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.55%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.35%.

Regions Financial Company 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.