Ballentine Partners LLC Grows Stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,038 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,701 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $397,000 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 RF. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Regions Financial by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 24,928 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $581,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Regions Financial by 1.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 42,346 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Regions Financial by 2.4% during the third quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,845 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,267 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $473,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. Finally, IFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 30,928 shares of the bank’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on RF shares. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $24.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.78.

Regions Financial Price Performance

NYSE RF opened at $23.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $22.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.00. The company has a market cap of $21.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.17. Regions Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $13.95 and a 1 year high of $24.47.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.04). Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 18.78%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.35%.

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.