Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 92.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,846 shares of the bank's stock after selling 310,026 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Regions Financial were worth $520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,881 shares of the bank's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 144,317 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,797,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Regions Financial by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,569 shares of the bank's stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in Regions Financial by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 45,952 shares of the bank's stock valued at $891,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the period. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Regions Financial by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,029 shares of the bank's stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $22.00 price target (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Citigroup upgraded Regions Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $20.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $15.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com cut Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Argus cut Regions Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $20.34.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RF traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $19.57. The company had a trading volume of 7,339,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,683,732. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83. Regions Financial Co. has a one year low of $13.72 and a one year high of $21.08. The firm has a market cap of $17.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.21. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $19.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.16.

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

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at Regions Financial

In related news, Director William C. Rhodes III acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.37 per share, for a total transaction of $968,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $968,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.