Savant Capital LLC Buys 38,969 Shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 152.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,510 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,969 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $1,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,704,755 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,281,118,000 after acquiring an additional 3,119,237 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 281.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 79,593 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 58,739 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 153,136 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 40,200 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 1,676.8% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 93,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,816,000 after acquiring an additional 88,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 1,075.7% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 44,781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 40,972 shares in the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.51.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:RF opened at $22.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.22. Regions Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $13.72 and a 52-week high of $23.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.48%. This is an increase from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is presently 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.