First Trust Advisors LP Has $401.10 Million Stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,053,457 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 1,224,645 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 1.88% of Regions Financial worth $401,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Regions Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $210,000. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 14.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,837 shares of the bank's stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Regions Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 2.0% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 127,326 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,971,000 after purchasing an additional 2,531 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 375,572 shares of the bank's stock worth $8,762,000 after purchasing an additional 134,615 shares during the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Regions Financial from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joia M. Johnson acquired 2,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.18 per share, with a total value of $48,714.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,486 shares in the company, valued at $370,353.48. The trade was a 15.15 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Regions Financial Price Performance

RF stock traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $20.50. 3,465,744 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,407,859. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a PE ratio of 10.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.01. Regions Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $17.72 and a 52 week high of $27.96. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $21.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.49.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 20.20%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.88%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.08%.

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.