Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $2.61 Million Holdings in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 134,674 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,436 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Regions Financial were worth $2,610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of RF. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 103.2% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,477 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 2,000.0% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 2,100 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 277.2% during the third quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 2,384 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 69.4% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 2,441 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on RF shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $22.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Argus cut shares of Regions Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (up from $20.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.17.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

NYSE RF opened at $19.34 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $19.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.05. The stock has a market cap of $17.77 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.21. Regions Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.72 and a fifty-two week high of $21.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 19.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Regions Financial Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.96%. 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.