Hilltop Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 97,215 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,268,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Regions Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,968,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 13,948.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 284,755 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,643,000 after acquiring an additional 282,728 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Regions Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $8,274,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Regions Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $3,565,000. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new position in Regions Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,770,000. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Regions Financial Price Performance

NYSE RF opened at $26.55 on Tuesday. Regions Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $16.86 and a 1 year high of $27.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $24.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.19.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly 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). Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.78% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on RF shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stephens raised Regions Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Regions Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.71.

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.