Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on RF. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Regions Financial from $29.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Regions Financial from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on Regions Financial from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Regions Financial in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a “hold” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.80.

Regions Financial Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of RF stock opened at $22.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $19.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.74. Regions Financial has a 1-year low of $17.72 and a 1-year high of $27.96.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 20.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Regions Financial will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Regions Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. Regions Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.08%.

Institutional Trading of Regions Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 32.4% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,529 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 3,553 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Regions Financial during the first quarter worth $6,716,000. Intrua Financial LLC acquired a new position in Regions Financial during the first quarter worth $501,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Regions Financial by 23.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,731 shares of the bank’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Regions Financial by 0.9% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 180,282 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,918,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520 shares during the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.