Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the bank on Monday, July 1st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%.

Regions Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 12.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 3 years. Regions Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 43.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Regions Financial to earn $2.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.2%.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RF stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.86. 8,079,524 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,583,746. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $19.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.21. Regions Financial has a 12-month low of $13.72 and a 12-month high of $21.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 19th. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 14.50% and a net margin of 22.66%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Regions Financial will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 2.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,312,924 shares of the bank's stock worth $943,529,000 after purchasing an additional 189,323 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,189,021 shares of the bank's stock worth $435,275,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802,291 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,884,039 shares of the bank's stock worth $368,222,000 after purchasing an additional 275,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,271,811 shares of the bank's stock worth $362,211,000 after purchasing an additional 536,935 shares in the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on RF. StockNews.com lowered Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $22.00 target price (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.39.

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.