M&G Plc Invests $10.42 Million in Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)

M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 520,833 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $10,417,000. M&G Plc owned approximately 0.06% of Regions Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of RF. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Regions Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,379,000. Cincinnati Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Regions Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $74,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,704,755 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,281,118,000 after acquiring an additional 3,119,237 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 55,775,416 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,080,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,026 shares during the period. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Regions Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,829,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on RF. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.51.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

NYSE RF opened at $20.89 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. Regions Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.72 and a fifty-two week high of $22.88.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 18.91%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Regions Financial Co. will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a positive change from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 54.35%.

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.