Baird Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Regions Financial Corporation by 15.0%, owning 71,206 shares valued at approximately $1.5 million after selling 12,551 shares during the first quarter.
• Regions Financial's stock has received multiple upgrades from analysts, with a consensus target price of $27.33 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The company announced an increased quarterly dividend of $0.265 per share, reflecting positive performance, as it reported earnings of $0.60 per share, beating estimates.

Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 15.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,206 shares of the bank's stock after selling 12,551 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $1,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 457.7% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 197,881 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,300,000 after buying an additional 162,397 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,075,636 shares of the bank's stock valued at $45,104,000 after buying an additional 19,092 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 171.6% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 13,228 shares of the bank's stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 8,357 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 116,281 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,527,000 after buying an additional 19,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $21,875,000. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on RF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. 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 target price on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.33.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of Regions Financial stock opened at $27.01 on Monday. Regions Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $17.74 and a 52-week high of $27.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average of $25.63 and a 200-day moving average of $22.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. Regions Financial had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.265 dividend. This is a positive change from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David R. Keenan sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.01, for a total value of $750,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 90,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,273,784.15. This represents a 24.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Roger W. Jenkins purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.48 per share, with a total value of $101,920.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,383 shares in the company, valued at $162,638.84. This trade represents a 167.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Regions Financial 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.

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