AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Acquires Shares of 1,321,956 Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,321,956 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $28,726,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned approximately 0.15% of Regions Financial as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in RF. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 76.6% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,876 shares of the bank's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,346 shares of the bank's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 181.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 3,225 shares of the bank's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 2,078 shares in the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "hold" rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $26.15.

Regions Financial Price Performance

RF stock traded up $1.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.00. The stock had a trading volume of 23,430,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,376,960. Regions Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $17.74 and a 52-week high of $27.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $22.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.42. The company has a market cap of $23.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.98.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 13.04% and a net margin of 21.43%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. This is a boost from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Regions Financial's payout ratio is currently 48.08%.

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.