Brokerages Set Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) PT at $22.86

Shares of Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.86.

RF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush raised Regions Financial from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $23.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Regions Financial from $24.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake 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 valued at $285,562,000 after acquiring an additional 979,597 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in 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 during the period. Cincinnati Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Regions Financial during the first quarter worth $74,606,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 6.5% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,822,420 shares of the bank's stock worth $59,384,000 after buying an additional 171,280 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Regions Financial Price Performance

RF stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $23.82. 11,191,479 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,926,090. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Regions Financial has a 12-month low of $13.72 and a 12-month high of $24.47. The stock's 50 day moving average is $22.65 and its 200 day moving average is $20.89. The company has a market cap of $21.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.17.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF - Get Free Report) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.91% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Regions Financial will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. Regions Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.35%.

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.