Cerity Partners LLC Increases Stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 483,032 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,520 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.05% of Regions Financial worth $11,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Regions Financial by 20.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,519,299 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,445,000 after purchasing an additional 253,708 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank raised its stake in Regions Financial by 392.5% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 248,325 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,793,000 after acquiring an additional 197,900 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Regions Financial in the first quarter valued at $19,322,000. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 6.3% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,722,024 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,175,000 after acquiring an additional 102,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 47.7% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 275,757 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,666,000 after purchasing an additional 89,045 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RF has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $26.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.71.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RF opened at $27.30 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Regions Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $15.79 and a 52-week high of $27.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.96. The company has a market capitalization of $24.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.16.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.78% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is 56.50%.

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.