Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Stock Price Breaks Below 50-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF)’s stock price passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $28.34 and traded as low as $28.03. Regions Financial shares last traded at $28.3250, with a volume of 8,325,155 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 19th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Regions Financial from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Regions Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Capital One Financial set a $33.00 price target on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Regions Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.00.

Regions Financial Trading Down 0.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $24.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.11, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.70.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. Regions Financial had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Regions Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Regions Financial Corporation will post 2.70 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 1st. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.06%.

Institutional Trading of Regions Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. WPG Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 83.5% during the second quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 813 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Regions Financial by 3.6% during the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 11,044 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 2,589 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 9,344 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Regions Financial by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,599 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

About Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) is a financial services company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Through its principal subsidiary, Regions Bank, the company provides banking and related financial services to consumers, businesses, institutions and governments.

Regions Bank offers checking and savings accounts, consumer and commercial loans, credit products, mortgages, treasury and cash-management services, investment and wealth-management solutions, and insurance-related services.