Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 104,255 Shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 37.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 173,080 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 104,255 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $4,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Regions Financial by 20.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,519,299 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,445,000 after purchasing an additional 253,708 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Regions Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,247,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Regions Financial by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 263,131 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,220,000 after purchasing an additional 99,115 shares during the period. Commerce Bank lifted its position in Regions Financial by 392.5% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 248,325 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,793,000 after purchasing an additional 197,900 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Regions Financial by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,479,865 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $34,806,000 after purchasing an additional 250,729 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RF has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 target price (up from $28.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Regions Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.67.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RF opened at $22.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.06. 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 stock has a market cap of $20.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.20. Regions Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $17.72 and a 1 year high of $27.96.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Co. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is presently 51.55%.

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.