Meridian Management Co. Sells 16,923 Shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF)

Key Points

• Meridian Management Co. reduced its stake in Regions Financial Corporation by 46.7%, now holding 19,332 shares valued at approximately $420,000.
• Regions Financial recently reported a 0.60 EPS for the quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenues of $1.91 billion, a 10.1% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.265 per share, yielding 4.01%, to be paid on October 1st.

Meridian Management Co. cut its stake in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 46.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,332 shares of the bank's stock after selling 16,923 shares during the quarter. Meridian Management Co.'s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new stake in Regions Financial during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 76.6% in the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,876 shares of the bank's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 30.7% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,346 shares of the bank's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 181.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 3,225 shares of the bank's stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 2,078 shares during the period. Finally, Proathlete Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Regions Financial in the first quarter valued at about $77,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on RF. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $27.00 target price (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.33.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RF traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $25.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,867,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,666,878. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.57. Regions Financial Corporation has a one year low of $17.74 and a one year high of $27.96. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.98.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The bank reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.265 dividend. This is a positive change from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 46.51%.

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.