First Trust Advisors LP Buys 5,754,487 Shares of Regions Financial Corporation $RF

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) by 75.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,358,969 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,754,487 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.57% of Regions Financial worth $348,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $254,564,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Regions Financial by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,836,163 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $618,860,000 after acquiring an additional 9,312,449 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised 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 acquiring an additional 2,980,505 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Regions Financial by 151.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,939,544 shares of the bank’s stock worth $103,886,000 after acquiring an additional 2,371,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Regions Financial by 89.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,784,843 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,671,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264,372 shares during the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on RF. UBS Group upped their target price on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Regions Financial from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Regions Financial from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Regions Financial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Brian R. Willman sold 7,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $195,760.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Regions Financial Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of RF opened at $30.82 on Wednesday. Regions Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.70 and a 12 month high of $32.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $29.11 and its 200-day moving average is $28.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 23.33% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is presently 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.