Caxton Associates LP Takes Position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 124,516 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $2,495,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Regions Financial by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 102,438 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,985,000 after acquiring an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 12,006 shares of the bank's stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,854 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 480,090 shares of the bank's stock worth $9,304,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 135,235 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,621,000 after buying an additional 10,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Regions Financial by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 254,916 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,940,000 after buying an additional 13,136 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RF has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $22.06.

Regions Financial Price Performance

RF traded up $0.36 on Thursday, hitting $22.90. 5,893,421 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,965,715. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Regions Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $13.72 and a 12 month high of $23.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.49.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.91% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a boost from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Regions Financial's payout ratio is currently 54.35%.

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.