Regions Financial Corporation $RF Shares Sold by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its stake in Regions Financial Corporation by 55.3%, selling over 1 million shares, and now holds about 0.09% of the company valued at approximately $18.5 million.
• Regions Financial reported $0.60 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 10.1%.
• The company declared an increased quarterly dividend of $0.265 per share, yielding 3.9%, with the dividend set to be paid on October 1st.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its position in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 55.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 849,573 shares of the bank's stock after selling 1,052,477 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.09% of Regions Financial worth $18,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RF. IFG Advisory LLC increased its position in Regions Financial by 0.9% during the first quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 52,531 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC increased its position in Regions Financial by 3.9% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 13,369 shares of the bank's stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Regions Financial by 8.7% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 6,641 shares of the bank's stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 22,291 shares of the bank's stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 18.6% during the first quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 3,641 shares of the bank's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roger W. Jenkins purchased 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.48 per share, with a total value of $101,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,383 shares in the company, valued at $162,638.84. This represents a 167.86% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $750,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 90,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,273,784.15. The trade was a 24.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Regions Financial Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE:RF traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,501,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,643,777. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.56 and a 200-day moving average of $22.87. Regions Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $17.74 and a 1 year high of $27.96. 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 (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 the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. The business 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is a positive change from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Regions Financial's payout ratio is currently 49.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "buy" rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $27.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $27.33.

Regions Financial Company 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.