Brokerages Set Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) Target Price at $22.06

Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.06.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RF. Wedbush raised Regions Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $23.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,704,755 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,281,118,000 after purchasing an additional 3,119,237 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 281.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 79,593 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 58,739 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 1,676.8% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 93,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,816,000 after acquiring an additional 88,437 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 1,075.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 44,781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 40,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Regions Financial by 30.9% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 415,105 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,734,000 after purchasing an additional 98,003 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RF opened at $23.02 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.51. Regions Financial has a 52-week low of $13.72 and a 52-week high of $23.47. The company has a market cap of $21.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 18.91%. The company’s revenue was down 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Regions Financial will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is an increase from Regions Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.35%.

Regions Financial Company Profile

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.