Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 2,641 Shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund trimmed its position in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 8.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 30,493 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,641 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $642,000 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 RF. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Regions Financial by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 25,569 shares of the bank’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 654 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Regions Financial by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 62,734 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,216,000 after purchasing an additional 3,759 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Regions Financial by 113.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in Regions Financial by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 16,363 shares of the bank’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 4,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Regions Financial by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 61,818 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 6,503 shares in the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RF. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Regions Financial

In other news, EVP William D. Ritter sold 23,000 shares of Regions Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.95, for a total transaction of $458,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $831,336.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Regions Financial Trading Up 0.9 %

RF stock traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $22.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,329,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,182,820. Regions Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $22.85. The stock has a market cap of $20.83 billion, a PE ratio of 12.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.42.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.91% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Regions Financial Co. will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

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.