Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) Shares Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 118.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 24,487 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 13,301 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Regions Financial were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LBP AM SA lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 149.4% during the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 730,614 shares of the bank's stock valued at $17,184,000 after purchasing an additional 437,691 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in Regions Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $1,965,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 1,099.7% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 139,665 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,285,000 after purchasing an additional 128,023 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 939,376 shares of the bank's stock valued at $22,094,000 after purchasing an additional 36,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 360,509 shares of the bank's stock valued at $8,558,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RF has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 research note on Friday, March 28th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $25.80.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

RF stock traded down $0.61 on Friday, hitting $21.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,896,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,190,607. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.70. Regions Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $17.74 and a 1 year high of $27.96. The stock has a market cap of $19.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.08%.

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.