Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Stock Position in Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Key Points

• Wedge Capital Management LLP increased its holdings in Regions Financial Corporation by 2.9%, now owning 1,680,417 shares valued at approximately $39.5 million.
• Regions Financial announced a dividend increase, introducing a quarterly dividend of $0.265 per share, up from $0.25, representing an annual yield of 3.9%.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own around 79.39% of Regions Financial's stock, highlighting significant faith in the company from major financial players.

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,680,417 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 47,606 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.19% of Regions Financial worth $39,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in Regions Financial by 637.3% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,224 shares of the bank's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058 shares during the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in Regions Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in Regions Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $58,000. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roger W. Jenkins purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.48 per share, with a total value of $101,920.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 6,383 shares in the company, valued at $162,638.84. This represents a 167.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David R. Keenan sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,273,784.15. This trade represents a 24.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Regions Financial Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Regions Financial stock traded up $0.12 on Tuesday, hitting $26.68. 13,737,720 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,239,932. Regions Financial Corporation has a one year low of $17.74 and a one year high of $27.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.17. The company has a market capitalization of $23.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. This is an increase 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 yield of 4.0%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on RF shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $27.00 price objective (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Regions Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.58.

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.