Foster & Motley Inc. Sells 17,259 Shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Foster & Motley Inc. reduced its stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 13.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 108,966 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 17,259 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $2,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 75.6% during the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 530.0% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Regions Financial in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on RF shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on Regions Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.51.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

RF opened at $22.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.09. Regions Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $13.72 and a 52-week high of $23.47.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.91% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. Regions Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Co. will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. This is a boost from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is currently 54.35%.

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.