Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Regions Financial from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $21.51.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RF stock opened at $21.97 on Thursday. Regions Financial has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $23.47. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.29. The firm has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.17. 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 (NYSE:RF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.91% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Regions Financial’s revenue was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Regions Financial 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. This is a positive change from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.35%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RF. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Regions Financial by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 40,089 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $777,000 after buying an additional 2,864 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Regions Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Regions Financial by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,162 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 4,647 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 104,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,032,000 after buying an additional 9,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,047,000. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

About Regions Financial

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.