Sapient Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 53,949 Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 53,949 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,046,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Toroso Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 10,722 shares of the bank's stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,881 shares of the bank's stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 144,317 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,797,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,569 shares of the bank's stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the period. Finally, Kinneret Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 2.3% in the first quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 29,352 shares of the bank's stock worth $658,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the period. 79.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $22.00 price objective (up from $20.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.39.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RF traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.19. 6,276,907 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,377,149. Regions Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $21.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $19.21 and a 200 day moving average of $17.92.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.09). Regions Financial had a net margin of 22.66% and a return on equity of 14.50%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Regions Financial's revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Regions Financial's payout ratio is currently 45.93%.

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.