Korea Investment CORP Increases Holdings in Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Key Points

• Korea Investment CORP increased its stake in Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) by 177.2% in Q3 to 2,407,473 shares (≈0.27% ownership), adding 1,538,827 shares worth about $63.49 million.
• Other institutions also piled in—Norges Bank initiated a $246.8M stake and Victory Capital raised its holdings by 52.9%—leaving roughly 79.4% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Regions authorized a $3.0 billion share repurchase program (up to ~12.9% of shares) and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.265 (annualized $1.06, ~3.9% yield); the company’s recent quarter reported EPS of $0.57, missing estimates by $0.04.

Korea Investment CORP increased its position in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 177.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,407,473 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 1,538,827 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.27% of Regions Financial worth $63,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Regions Financial during the second quarter worth $246,790,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Regions Financial by 52.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,523,714 shares of the bank's stock valued at $357,417,000 after buying an additional 4,679,285 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 620.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,563,492 shares of the bank's stock worth $60,293,000 after buying an additional 2,207,585 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 85.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,625,557 shares of the bank's stock worth $121,976,000 after buying an additional 2,137,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $54,349,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Regions Financial

In other news, EVP William D. Ritter sold 36,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.78, for a total transaction of $1,036,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 17,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $505,635.82. The trade was a 67.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on RF. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.97.

Regions Financial Stock Down 2.6%

RF opened at $27.03 on Monday. Regions Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $17.74 and a 12 month high of $31.53. The business has a 50-day moving average of $28.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.02.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 16th. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.04). Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.55% and a net margin of 22.44%.The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 12.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.29%.

About Regions Financial

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.

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