Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Upgraded to “Buy” at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Argus currently has $26.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $26.00 in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $24.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.35.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

Shares of RF opened at $23.67 on Thursday. Regions Financial has a 52-week low of $13.95 and a 52-week high of $24.47. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.17.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.91% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Regions Financial’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Regions Financial will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.35%.

Institutional Trading of Regions Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signet Financial Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 4.9% in the first quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 12,438 shares of the bank’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Regions Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its position in Regions Financial by 65.2% during the 1st quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 1,009,593 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $21,242,000 after purchasing an additional 398,597 shares during the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in Regions Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $200,000. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Regions Financial in the first quarter worth about $33,829,000. 79.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.