Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Holdings in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 36.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 162,845 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,866 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $3,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 61.0% during the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 162,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,831,000 after purchasing an additional 61,700 shares in the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Regions Financial by 65.9% during the 4th quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 73,904 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after buying an additional 29,344 shares during the last quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC increased its position in Regions Financial by 2.3% during the fourth 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. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 80.1% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 48,783 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 21,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Capital Management Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Regions Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stephens raised shares of 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Regions Financial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.67.

Regions Financial Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE RF opened at $23.39 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.95. The stock has a market cap of $21.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.20. Regions Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $17.72 and a 52 week high of $27.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.28%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.55%.

Regions Financial Company 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.