Bank of America Corp DE trimmed its stake in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF – Get Rating) by 19.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,671,797 shares of the bank's stock after selling 1,624,185 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.71% of Regions Financial worth $148,515,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of RF. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $215,030,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 96,711,569 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,108,312,000 after purchasing an additional 8,239,657 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 296.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 10,552,656 shares of the bank's stock worth $234,902,000 after purchasing an additional 7,891,037 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 60.4% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,373,762 shares of the bank's stock worth $111,585,000 after purchasing an additional 2,023,514 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its holdings in Regions Financial by 70,299.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,536,122 shares of the bank's stock worth $34,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,533,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on RF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Regions Financial from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Regions Financial from $24.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, July 11th. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Regions Financial from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a "peer perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 26th. Raymond James raised Regions Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 7th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on Regions Financial to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, July 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.79.

Regions Financial Trading Down 2.6 %

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 14.07% and a net margin of 32.85%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 1st. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Regions Financial Company Profile

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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.

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