Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Regions Financial Corporation has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from 21 analysts, including 1 sell, 7 hold, and 13 buy ratings, with an average price target of $27.89.
• Recent brokerages have raised their price targets for Regions Financial, with Citigroup increasing it from $30.00 to $32.00 and DA Davidson from $25.00 to $29.00, both reflecting positive sentiment towards the stock.
• Regions Financial recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.265, resulting in a current yield of 4.0%, up from a previous $0.25 dividend.

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.8947.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on RF. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st.

Insider Activity

In other Regions Financial news, Director Roger W. Jenkins purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.48 per share, for a total transaction of $101,920.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,383 shares in the company, valued at $162,638.84. This represents a 167.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David R. Keenan sold 30,000 shares of Regions Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.01, for a total transaction of $750,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 90,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,273,784.15. This represents a 24.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 44,211,562 shares of the bank's stock worth $960,717,000 after buying an additional 1,562,512 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,484,310 shares of the bank's stock worth $740,511,000 after buying an additional 391,568 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,794,677 shares of the bank's stock worth $557,370,000 after buying an additional 109,549 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Regions Financial by 35.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,990,446 shares of the bank's stock worth $456,122,000 after buying an additional 5,521,772 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $246,790,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Regions Financial Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of RF stock opened at $26.36 on Friday. Regions Financial has a 12-month low of $17.74 and a 12-month high of $27.96. The company has a market capitalization of $23.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. Regions Financial had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Regions Financial will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This is a boost from Regions Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio is 49.30%.

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.

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