Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) Shares Sold by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 32.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 77,215 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 37,792 shares during the period. Regions Financial accounts for about 0.5% of Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $1,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 281.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 79,593 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,675,000 after purchasing an additional 58,739 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 1,075.7% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 44,781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $942,000 after buying an additional 40,972 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Regions Financial in the 1st quarter worth $19,322,000. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,722,024 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,175,000 after buying an additional 102,380 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 47.7% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 275,757 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,666,000 after buying an additional 89,045 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Stephens raised Regions Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.94.

Regions Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:RF opened at $26.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. Regions Financial Co. has a one year low of $15.79 and a one year high of $26.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.50. 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.78% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.50%.

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.