Cerity Partners LLC Has $6.48 Million Stock Position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 334,222 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,777 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $6,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new stake in Regions Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,944,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Regions Financial by 126.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 26,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 14,756 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Regions Financial by 19.6% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 582,491 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,019,000 after buying an additional 95,271 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 653,048 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,656,000 after buying an additional 141,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toroso Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 236.9% in the third quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 80,152 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 56,364 shares in the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Regions Financial from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Citigroup upgraded Regions Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $23.00 in a report on Monday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $15.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.39.

Regions Financial Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:RF opened at $19.22 on Tuesday. Regions Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $13.72 and a 12 month high of $21.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $19.24 and its 200 day moving average is $17.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.66 billion, a PE ratio of 9.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.21.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 22.66% and a return on equity of 14.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Regions Financial Co. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.93%.

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.