GAMMA Investing LLC Buys New Stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 8,892 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $166,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of RF. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 8.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 53,824,390 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $925,780,000 after purchasing an additional 4,160,768 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 162.1% during the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 5,904,595 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,559,000 after buying an additional 3,651,390 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,585,518 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,970,871,000 after buying an additional 2,982,310 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 15.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,086,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $190,682,000 after buying an additional 1,455,499 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 13.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,761,543 shares of the bank’s stock worth $185,099,000 after buying an additional 1,268,045 shares during the period. 79.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Regions Financial Trading Up 0.1 %

Regions Financial stock opened at $19.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.82 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.09. The firm has a market cap of $18.03 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.21.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.89%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised shares of Regions Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.34.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Regions Financial news, Director William C. Rhodes III bought 50,000 shares of Regions Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.37 per share, with a total value of $968,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $968,500. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.