Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 68,530 Shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its holdings in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,164,927 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 68,530 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $163,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,704,755 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,281,118,000 after acquiring an additional 3,119,237 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $1,675,000 after purchasing an additional 58,739 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake 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 valued at $1,816,000 after purchasing an additional 88,437 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 40,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 30.9% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 415,105 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,734,000 after buying an additional 98,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Regions Financial Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of RF opened at $22.53 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.63 billion, a PE ratio of 12.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.17. Regions Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $13.72 and a 12-month high of $23.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.91% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company’s revenue was down 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Regions Financial Co. will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a positive change from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is currently 54.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on RF. Bank of America upped their price target on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.51.

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.