Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Regions Financial (NYSE:RF – Get Rating) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $26.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $24.00.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup restated a buy rating on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Thursday, March 24th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Regions Financial from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 7th. Barclays upgraded shares of Regions Financial from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a hold rating on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Friday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $25.50.

Shares of Regions Financial stock opened at $21.14 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.81 billion, a PE ratio of 8.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.29. Regions Financial has a 1-year low of $18.02 and a 1-year high of $25.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 15.33% and a net margin of 38.17%. The company’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Regions Financial will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 11th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 10th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is currently 27.42%.

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 96,711,569 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,108,312,000 after purchasing an additional 8,239,657 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Regions Financial by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,182,959 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $439,159,000 after buying an additional 311,615 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Regions Financial by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,659,139 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $355,006,000 after buying an additional 805,591 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Regions Financial by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,734,876 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $343,021,000 after buying an additional 472,102 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Regions Financial by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,185,015 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $287,433,000 after buying an additional 137,074 shares during the period. 74.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Regions Financial Company Profile (Get Rating)

Regions Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company. It provides traditional commercial, retail and mortgage banking services, as well as other financial services in the fields of investment banking, asset management, trust, mutual funds, securities brokerage, insurance and other financing. The firm operates through the following segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management.

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