Hennessy Advisors Inc. Buys New Shares in Regions Financial Corporation $RF

Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 35,672 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,077,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 13.8% during the second quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 22,666 shares of the bank’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 2,747 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 4.9% in the second quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 43,063 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 1.1% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 397,633 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,009,000 after purchasing an additional 4,133 shares during the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 8.1% during the second quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 28,219 shares of the bank’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV raised its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 3.4% during the second quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 52,464 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on RF shares. Evercore reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Regions Financial from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Regions Financial from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Regions Financial from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.24.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RF stock opened at $30.35 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Regions Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $22.70 and a 12-month high of $32.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.80. The company has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.00.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 23.33%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Analysts expect that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a boost from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is presently 48.98%.

About Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) is a U.S. bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, that provides a broad range of banking and financial services. Its primary banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, serves retail and commercial customers through a combination of branch and ATM networks, digital channels and relationship-based delivery. The company offers deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage origination and servicing, and payment and treasury services.

In addition to core banking, Regions offers wealth management, trust and brokerage services, insurance solutions, and capital markets capabilities to corporate and institutional clients.