Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.12.

RF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Regions Financial in a report on Monday, July 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Regions Financial from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Robert W. Baird raised Regions Financial from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RF. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,667,092 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,543,092,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953,594 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,836,163 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $618,860,000 after purchasing an additional 9,312,449 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 75.7% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,358,969 shares of the bank’s stock worth $348,936,000 after buying an additional 5,754,487 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 1.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,827,358 shares of the bank’s stock worth $256,633,000 after buying an additional 140,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $254,564,000. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Regions Financial Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Regions Financial stock opened at $27.62 on Friday. Regions Financial has a 12 month low of $22.70 and a 12 month high of $32.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $23.53 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.99.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 23.33%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts predict that Regions Financial will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. This is a boost from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.2650. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.98%.

Regions Financial Company Profile

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 consumer, commercial and institutional customers.

Regions Bank offers checking and savings accounts, consumer loans, credit cards, mortgages, home equity products and other personal banking services. Its commercial and corporate offerings include business loans, treasury management, equipment financing, capital markets services and other solutions for companies, municipalities and institutions.