Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Makes New Investment in Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 23,838 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $720,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 8.5% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,107,015 shares of the bank’s stock worth $63,645,000 after purchasing an additional 165,527 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in Regions Financial by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,255,888 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,135,000 after buying an additional 1,600,926 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Regions Financial by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,859,466 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,247,000 after buying an additional 69,191 shares during the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 123.7% in the 4th quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 135,909 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,683,000 after buying an additional 75,149 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Palms Capital LLC acquired a new position in Regions Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,137,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Evercore reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $31.50 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.24.

Regions Financial Stock Up 0.1%

Regions Financial stock opened at $30.66 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $30.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $26.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.00. Regions Financial Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.70 and a 52 week high of $32.47.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.05. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 23.33%.The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Regions Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is presently 43.27%.

Regions Financial Profile

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) is a U.S. bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, that provides a broad range of banking and financial services. Its primary banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, serves retail and commercial customers through a combination of branch and ATM networks, digital channels and relationship-based delivery. The company offers deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage origination and servicing, and payment and treasury services.

In addition to core banking, Regions offers wealth management, trust and brokerage services, insurance solutions, and capital markets capabilities to corporate and institutional clients.