Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) Stock Now Rated "Hold" by Sell-Side Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Regions Financial: 10 of 20 recommend holding, seven recommend buying, and three recommend selling. The average one-year price target is $31.
• Regions reported quarterly EPS of $0.73, beating the $0.67 consensus estimate; revenue was $1.99 billion, up 3% year over year.
• The bank declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, equivalent to an annualized yield of 4.2% at the article’s cited share price.

Shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.00.

RF has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Regions Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen raised Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. Capital One Financial set a $33.00 price objective on Regions Financial in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 15th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 6.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,667,092 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,543,092,000 after buying an additional 2,953,594 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,754,487 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 140,398 shares during the period. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in Regions Financial in the second quarter worth $236,756,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Regions Financial in the second quarter worth $219,068,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:RF opened at $28.32 on Monday. Regions Financial has a 52 week low of $23.59 and a 52 week high of $32.47. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $24.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.01.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.99 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Regions Financial will post 2.70 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Regions Financial's payout ratio is currently 47.06%.

About Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation NYSE: RF is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Its principal subsidiary, Regions Bank, provides banking and related financial services to individuals, businesses and institutions.

The company's services include consumer and commercial banking, lending, mortgage banking, treasury and payment services, and wealth management. Regions also offers services such as investment and trust management through its wealth business.

Regions traces its history to First Alabama Bancshares, established in 1971, and serves customers across the South and parts of the Midwest and Texas.

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