Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) Stock Holdings Boosted by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Free Report) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,087,697 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 34,125 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Regions Financial worth $25,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Regions Financial by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,252,693 shares of the bank's stock valued at $285,562,000 after purchasing an additional 979,597 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,625,734 shares of the bank's stock worth $201,238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014,706 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,965,126 shares of the bank's stock worth $59,421,000 after acquiring an additional 433,319 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,343,629 shares of the bank's stock worth $46,966,000 after acquiring an additional 266,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,722,024 shares of the bank's stock worth $40,175,000 after acquiring an additional 102,380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Regions Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:RF traded up $0.09 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $26.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,687,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,924,213. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $23.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.42. Regions Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $15.49 and a fifty-two week high of $26.73. The company has a market capitalization of $23.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Regions Financial's payout ratio is currently 56.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on RF. Barclays raised their target price on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Argus upgraded Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $26.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.45.

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.