New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 539,064 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 31,500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Regions Financial worth $12,679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 29.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,729 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Regions Financial by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 17,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Regions Financial by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 24,928 shares of the bank’s stock worth $581,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the period. Prossimo Advisors LLC increased its stake in Regions Financial by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 19,270 shares of the bank’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in Regions Financial by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 24,382 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $573,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the period. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on RF shares. Stephens raised Regions Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Regions Financial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 target price (up previously from $28.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.67.

Regions Financial Trading Up 0.2 %

RF stock opened at $23.44 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Regions Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $17.72 and a twelve month high of $27.96.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.01. Regions Financial had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 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 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is currently 51.55%.

About Regions Financial

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.