Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 943 Shares of Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its stake in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 299,885 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 943 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $7,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 35.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,990,446 shares of the bank’s stock worth $456,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,521,772 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth $53,018,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 6.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,092,742 shares of the bank’s stock worth $675,645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,162 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 10,010,267 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $198,721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 3.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 44,211,562 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $960,717,000 after buying an additional 1,562,512 shares during the period. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Regions Financial Price Performance

NYSE RF opened at $26.63 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $23.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.02. Regions Financial Corporation has a 52 week low of $17.74 and a 52 week high of $27.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.33.

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

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is an increase from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is currently 49.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roger W. Jenkins bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.48 per share, for a total transaction of $101,920.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,638.84. This represents a 167.86% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David R. Keenan sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.01, for a total transaction of $750,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.58.

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.