Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.09 Million Investment in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 56,200 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,089,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new position in Regions Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,944,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 126.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 26,436 shares of the bank's stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 14,756 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 582,491 shares of the bank's stock worth $10,019,000 after buying an additional 95,271 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL increased its position in Regions Financial by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 2,470,891 shares of the bank's stock valued at $47,886,000 after buying an additional 811,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Regions Financial by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 653,048 shares of the bank's stock valued at $12,656,000 after buying an additional 141,008 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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 report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Citigroup upgraded Regions Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com cut Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $22.00 target price (up previously 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 issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Regions Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.17.

Regions Financial Price Performance

RF stock traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,018,001 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,829,525. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Regions Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $13.72 and a 12 month high of $21.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.21.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.75 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 19.75%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Regions Financial Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.86%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

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.