Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 497,416 Shares of Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Regions Financial Corporation by 36.2%, now holding approximately $19.04 million worth of shares.
• Regions Financial recently reported a quarterly EPS of $0.60, exceeding expectations, while also announcing a dividend increase to $0.265 per share.
• Institutional investors currently own 79.39% of Regions Financial's stock, highlighting significant investor confidence in the company.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 36.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 876,007 shares of the bank's stock after selling 497,416 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Regions Financial worth $19,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position 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 last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Regions Financial in the first quarter worth $53,018,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Regions Financial by 6.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,092,742 shares of the bank's stock worth $675,645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,162 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Regions Financial by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,522,612 shares of the bank's stock valued at $129,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,907,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Regions Financial by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 44,211,562 shares of the bank's stock valued at $960,717,000 after buying an additional 1,562,512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on RF shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $27.00 target price (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Regions Financial in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "hold" rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.33.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:RF traded up $0.09 on Friday, hitting $27.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,961,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,409,821. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.01. Regions Financial Corporation has a one year low of $17.74 and a one year high of $27.96.

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

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.265 dividend. This is an increase from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Regions Financial's dividend 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.