Eastern Bank Takes $81,000 Position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,470 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $81,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RF. Cincinnati Insurance Co. bought a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $74,606,000. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,829,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 13.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,625,734 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $201,238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014,706 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,252,693 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $285,562,000 after acquiring an additional 979,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $19,322,000. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on RF shares. Argus upgraded Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Regions Financial from $24.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wedbush upped their price objective on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.35.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RF opened at $23.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. Regions Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $13.95 and a 52-week high of $24.47.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 18.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

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

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.