Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 61,484 Shares of Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its position in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) by 40.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,525 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 61,484 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $2,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of RF. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Regions Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $254,564,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,836,163 shares of the bank’s stock worth $618,860,000 after buying an additional 9,312,449 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 75.7% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,358,969 shares of the bank’s stock worth $348,936,000 after buying an additional 5,754,487 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 286.2% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 4,022,031 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $106,061,000 after buying an additional 2,980,505 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 151.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,939,544 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $103,886,000 after buying an additional 2,371,048 shares during the period. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.24.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RF opened at $31.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $30.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.71. Regions Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.70 and a fifty-two week high of $32.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.00.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.05. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 23.33%.The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 43.27%.

Regions Financial Profile

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) is a U.S. bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, that provides a broad range of banking and financial services. Its primary banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, serves retail and commercial customers through a combination of branch and ATM networks, digital channels and relationship-based delivery. The company offers deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage origination and servicing, and payment and treasury services.

In addition to core banking, Regions offers wealth management, trust and brokerage services, insurance solutions, and capital markets capabilities to corporate and institutional clients.