Carson Advisory Inc. Invests $218,000 in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Carson Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,365 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of RF. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 1,075.7% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 44,781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 40,972 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 415,105 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,734,000 after purchasing an additional 98,003 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $19,322,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Regions Financial by 47.7% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 275,757 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,666,000 after buying an additional 89,045 shares in the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Regions Financial Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of RF stock opened at $25.63 on Friday. Regions Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $14.86 and a 12-month high of $26.33. The company has a market capitalization of $23.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.1 earnings per share 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is 56.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Regions Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus raised Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Regions Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.45.

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.