Dowd Ritter, CEO of Regions Financial Corp. , has purchased 50,000 shares of the bank's stock.

A Securities and Exchange Commission document filed Monday showed the leader of Birmingham's largest bank holding company bought 25,000 shares of stock at $9.60 each and 25,000 at $9.71. His total purchase was about $480,000.

The director of Region's board, Claude Nielson, also bought stock. An SEC filing showed he purchased about 17,000 shares at prices ranging from $11.34 to $9.42 each.

Region's board last week cut the bank's dividends 10 cents per common share. As the bank struggles with loan losses from mortgages in the hard-hit Florida market, stocks have sunk to $6.41 from a 52-week high of $33.50.