text: Regions Financial Corp (NYSE:RF) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest - Dakota Financial News
  Regions Financial Corp (NYSE:RF) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest
  Regions Financial Corp (NYSE:RF) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,041,300 shares, a decline of 8.0% from the June 30th total of 14,167,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company's stock are short sold.
  In other Regions Financial news, COO John B. Owen sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.63, for a total value of $585,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 87,152 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,275,033.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hardie B. Kimbrough, Jr. sold 7,148 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.68, for a total value of $104,932.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,482 shares in the company, valued at $506,195.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.
  A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,604,931 shares of the bank's stock valued at $195,420,000 after acquiring an additional 286,879 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Regions Financial by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,010,538 shares of the bank's stock worth $200,519,000 after buying an additional 432,350 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth $442,000. Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in Regions Financial by 197.5% during the 1st quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 40,416 shares of the bank's stock worth $572,000 after buying an additional 26,831 shares during the period. Finally, Livingston Group Asset Management CO operating as Southport Capital Management increased its stake in Regions Financial by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Livingston Group Asset Management CO operating as Southport Capital Management now owns 20,740 shares of the bank's stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the period. 71.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
  Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $16.00 target price on Regions Financial and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Wedbush upgraded Regions Financial from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. ValuEngine upgraded Regions Financial from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America cut Regions Financial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Macquarie cut Regions Financial from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. The stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $17.33.
  RF traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $14.04. The company had a trading volume of 6,198,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,646,037. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $15.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.06. The company has a market cap of $14.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.49. Regions Financial has a 1 year low of $12.39 and a 1 year high of $19.99.
  Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.49 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 10.86% and a net margin of 26.43%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Regions Financial will post 1.54 EPS for the current year.
  Regions Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, June 27th that permits the company to buyback $1.37 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
  The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.155 dividend. This is a positive change from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio is 41.18%.