James Investment Research Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

James Investment Research Inc. grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 117,070 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,127 shares during the quarter. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $2,731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. American National Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 1,856.7% during the third quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 1,174 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 157.2% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,335 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew 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 last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Regions Financial from $24.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Regions Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson raised their target price on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.45.

Regions Financial Price Performance

RF stock opened at $23.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.14. Regions Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $14.60 and a 52-week high of $24.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.04). Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.78% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Regions Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is currently 56.50%.

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.