Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Stock Position in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its holdings in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,851 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,585 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $1,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 16.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,485,987 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,306,813,000 after buying an additional 7,791,399 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 575.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,705,273 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,784,000 after buying an additional 1,452,956 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,183,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $686,398,000 after buying an additional 1,396,647 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Regions Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $31,480,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 247.0% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,738,571 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,891,000 after buying an additional 1,237,538 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on RF. Compass Point lifted their price objective 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. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 target price (up previously from $28.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Regions Financial

In related news, Director Joia M. Johnson purchased 2,300 shares of Regions Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.18 per share, with a total value of $48,714.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,353.48. The trade was a 15.15 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have bought 3,993 shares of company stock worth $89,682 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:RF opened at $21.68 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $19.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50-day moving average is $23.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.95. Regions Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $17.72 and a 1-year high of $27.96.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 12.83%. Regions Financial’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.61%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is 51.55%.

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.