Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 1,247,270 Shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,657,325 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,247,270 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned 0.50% of Regions Financial worth $90,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,585,518 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,970,871,000 after acquiring an additional 2,982,310 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 53,824,390 shares of the bank’s stock worth $925,780,000 after acquiring an additional 4,160,768 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,169,876 shares of the bank’s stock worth $346,922,000 after acquiring an additional 618,384 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,086,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $190,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Regions Financial by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,761,543 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $185,099,000 after buying an additional 1,268,045 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on RF. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Regions Financial from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Regions Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $22.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.34.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of RF stock opened at $19.62 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $13.72 and a twelve month high of $21.08. The company has a market cap of $18.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.09.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. Regions Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Regions Financial

In related news, Director William C. Rhodes III purchased 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $19.37 per share, with a total value of $968,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $968,500. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Regions Financial 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.