KBC Group NV Reduces Holdings in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

KBC Group NV decreased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 58.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 914,213 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,304,161 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $21,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of RF. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Regions Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. American National Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Regions Financial by 1,856.7% in the third quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 1,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 157.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,335 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 530.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Regions Financial in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Regions Financial stock opened at $26.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $23.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.53. Regions Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $15.79 and a 1 year high of $26.73.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 18.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on RF shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Argus upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.18.

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.