Regions Financial Corporation $RF Position Boosted by Bayforest Capital Ltd

Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) by 637.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,224 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,058 shares during the quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. IFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 52,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 13,369 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 6,641 shares of the bank’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 3,641 shares of the bank’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 76,922 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,672,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Stephens lifted their price target on Regions Financial from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Regions Financial

In other news, Director Roger W. Jenkins bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.48 per share, for a total transaction of $101,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,638.84. This trade represents a 167.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David R. Keenan sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.01, for a total value of $750,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 90,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,273,784.15. The trade was a 24.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Regions Financial stock opened at $27.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.65, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.02. Regions Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $17.74 and a 1 year high of $27.96. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.91 and a 200-day moving average of $22.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The bank reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 13.08% and a net margin of 21.81%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is an increase from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.30%.

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.