Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Key Points

• Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Regions Financial Corporation by 3.7% in Q2, now owning 315,402 shares worth approximately $7.77 million.
• Analyst upgrades have led to increased target prices for Regions Financial, with several firms now rating the stock as a "buy" and setting price targets ranging from $29.00 to $32.00.
• Regions Financial recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.265 per share from $0.25, yielding 4.0% annually.

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 315,402 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 11,391 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Regions Financial were worth $7,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 637.3% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,224 shares of the bank's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Regions Financial by 76.6% during the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,876 shares of the bank's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new position in Regions Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Regions Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on RF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Regions Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Stephens upped their price objective on Regions Financial from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David R. Keenan sold 30,000 shares of Regions Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.01, for a total transaction of $750,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 90,915 shares in the company, valued at $2,273,784.15. This trade represents a 24.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Roger W. Jenkins bought 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.48 per share, with a total value of $101,920.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,383 shares of the company's stock, valued at $162,638.84. The trade was a 167.86% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RF opened at $26.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.02. Regions Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $17.74 and a 1-year high of $27.96. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $26.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. This is a boost 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio is 49.30%.

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.

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