Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Stock

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $24.00 to $28.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the bank’s stock.

RF has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Regions Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America increased their target price on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Stephens upgraded Regions Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.18.

Regions Financial Stock Performance

NYSE RF opened at $26.33 on Friday. Regions Financial has a 1 year low of $15.79 and a 1 year high of $26.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.61.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Regions Financial had a net margin of 18.78% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Regions Financial will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. Regions Financial’s payout ratio is 56.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RF. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Regions Financial by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 471,222 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,914,000 after acquiring an additional 5,962 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $287,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 15,075 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in Regions Financial by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 818,028 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,049,000 after buying an additional 69,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Regions Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $829,000. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.