Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 54.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,415 shares of the bank's stock after selling 56,536 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $1,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Regions Financial by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 22,376 shares of the bank's stock worth $486,000 after buying an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 24.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 365,190 shares of the bank's stock worth $7,936,000 after purchasing an additional 72,811 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 7.7% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 70,498 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 5,029 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 0.6% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 311,026 shares of the bank's stock worth $6,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank bought a new stake in Regions Financial in the first quarter worth about $227,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "hold" rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.33.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RF traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $24.87. 14,880,768 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,065,126. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Regions Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $17.74 and a 12-month high of $27.96. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.58.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate 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 given a dividend of $0.265 per share. This is a boost from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Regions Financial's payout ratio is presently 46.51%.

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.