Brokerages Set Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) Target Price at $25.94

Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $26.18.

RF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their target price on Regions Financial from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Argus upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Regions Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Regions Financial by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 54,856 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 9,445 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Regions Financial by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 471,222 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,914,000 after acquiring an additional 5,962 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth $287,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Regions Financial by 24.2% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 31,513 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $663,000 after acquiring an additional 6,144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 1,251,514 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,332,000 after buying an additional 40,250 shares during the period. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Regions Financial Price Performance

NYSE:RF opened at $26.36 on Thursday. Regions Financial has a 52-week low of $15.79 and a 52-week high of $26.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $23.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $23.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.58.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.78% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Regions Financial will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.50%.

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.