Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Reaches New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $22.00. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. Regions Financial traded as high as $21.08 and last traded at $21.04, with a volume of 8103524 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.68.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Regions Financial from $15.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Regions Financial from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Regions Financial from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.28.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Regions Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Regions Financial by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,704,755 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,281,118,000 after acquiring an additional 3,119,237 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 55,775,416 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,080,928,000 after buying an additional 1,951,026 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 0.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,312,924 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $943,529,000 after buying an additional 189,323 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,189,021 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $435,275,000 after buying an additional 2,802,291 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 3.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,169,876 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $346,922,000 after buying an additional 618,384 shares during the period. 79.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Regions Financial Stock Up 1.7 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.33 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.19.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Regions Financial had a return on equity of 14.50% and a net margin of 22.66%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Regions Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Regions Financial Co. will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.56%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is 45.93%.

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.