Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Key Points

• Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its stake in Regions Financial Corporation by 14.7% during the first quarter, owning a total of 283,078 shares valued at approximately $6.15 million.
• Regions Financial has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.265, up from $0.25, representing a 4.0% dividend yield, payable on October 1st.
• The stock has received mostly positive ratings from analysts, with an average target price of $27.33 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its holdings in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 14.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 283,078 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 36,332 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.'s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $6,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of RF. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Regions Financial by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 44,211,562 shares of the bank's stock valued at $960,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,512 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 6.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,092,742 shares of the bank's stock worth $675,645,000 after buying an additional 1,909,162 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Regions Financial by 35.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,990,446 shares of the bank's stock worth $456,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,521,772 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Regions Financial by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,658,858 shares of the bank's stock worth $227,176,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,882 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 9,369,608 shares of the bank's stock valued at $220,373,000 after buying an additional 931,875 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on RF shares. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $27.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Eleven equities research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.33.

Regions Financial Price Performance

RF stock traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $27.42. 15,961,096 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,461,345. Regions Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $17.74 and a 1-year high of $27.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $24.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.78.

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

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is an increase from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David R. Keenan sold 30,000 shares of Regions Financial stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 90,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,273,784.15. The trade was a 24.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Roger W. Jenkins purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.48 per share, with a total value of $101,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 insiders.

About Regions Financial

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.