Axa S.A. Increases Stock Position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Axa S.A. grew its stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 122.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 187,749 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 103,295 shares during the period. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $3,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RF. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 2.7% during 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. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 55,775,416 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,080,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,026 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,252,693 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,562,000 after acquiring an additional 979,597 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,707,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $162,163,000 after acquiring an additional 103,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cincinnati Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in Regions Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $74,606,000. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush raised Regions Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $23.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America increased 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. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.06.

Regions Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

RF opened at $23.03 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 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.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 18.91%. Regions Financial’s revenue was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a boost from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. 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.