Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Regions Financial from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Regions Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.86.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of RF opened at $23.82 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $22.65 and its 200-day moving average is $20.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $21.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.17. Regions Financial has a fifty-two week low of $13.72 and a fifty-two week high of $24.47.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 18.91%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Regions Financial will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is 54.35%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RF. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,252,693 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,562,000 after acquiring an additional 979,597 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 13.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,625,734 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $201,238,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014,706 shares in the last quarter. Cincinnati Insurance Co. bought a new position in Regions Financial in the first quarter worth $74,606,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Regions Financial by 17.1% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,965,126 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,421,000 after buying an additional 433,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,822,420 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,384,000 after buying an additional 171,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

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.