Avanza Fonder AB Buys Shares of 79,897 Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 79,897 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,879,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of RF. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 70,822 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,666,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 69,189 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,627,000 after purchasing an additional 6,633 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 2,309.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 653,963 shares of the bank's stock worth $15,381,000 after purchasing an additional 626,820 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $1,304,000. Finally, Mayfair Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Regions Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of RF traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.24. The stock had a trading volume of 15,241,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,264,528. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $25.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.41. Regions Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $17.42 and a 52 week high of $27.96. The company has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1,857,300 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.78% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wedbush lifted their price target on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $24.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.67.

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.