Polar Capital Holdings Plc Takes $7.24 Million Position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 307,642 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $7,236,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,183,580 shares of the bank’s stock worth $686,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396,647 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,028,497 shares of the bank’s stock worth $540,284,000 after purchasing an additional 403,283 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 17,053,457 shares of the bank’s stock worth $401,097,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,645 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,468,674 shares of the bank’s stock worth $363,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,963,954 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the fourth quarter worth $279,103,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on RF shares. TD Cowen started coverage on Regions Financial in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Regions Financial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.80.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Regions Financial stock opened at $22.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.66 and its 200-day moving average is $23.23. Regions Financial Co. has a one year low of $17.72 and a one year high of $27.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 20.20%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is presently 48.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Regions Financial news, Director Joia M. Johnson purchased 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.18 per share, with a total value of $48,714.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,486 shares in the company, valued at $370,353.48. This represents a 15.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.