Aviva PLC Sells 1,116,008 Shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Aviva PLC lessened its holdings in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 66.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 551,340 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,116,008 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $12,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RF. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 122.9% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,150 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Regions Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 2,354.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 1,252 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RF opened at $18.65 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.86. The company has a market cap of $16.89 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.01. Regions Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $17.72 and a 12-month high of $27.96.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.36%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is 51.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Regions Financial news, Director Joia M. Johnson purchased 2,300 shares of Regions Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.18 per share, for a total transaction of $48,714.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 3,868 shares of company stock valued at $86,722 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on RF. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Compass Point boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $29.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.42.

Regions Financial Company 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.