Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Downgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to “Market Perform”

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $31.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Regions Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Regions Financial from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $27.00 to $29.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Regions Financial from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.27.

Regions Financial Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of RF opened at $27.62 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Regions Financial has a 1-year low of $17.74 and a 1-year high of $29.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.80 and a 200 day moving average of $26.03.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 16th. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.04). Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.55% and a net margin of 22.44%.The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Regions Financial will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Regions Financial declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 12.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Regions Financial

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Regions Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $246,790,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 52.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,523,714 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $357,417,000 after purchasing an additional 4,679,285 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 286.2% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 4,022,031 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,980,505 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 151.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,939,544 shares of the bank’s stock worth $103,886,000 after purchasing an additional 2,371,048 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Regions Financial by 620.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,563,492 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,293,000 after buying an additional 2,207,585 shares during the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) is a U.S. bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, that provides a broad range of banking and financial services. Its primary banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, serves retail and commercial customers through a combination of branch and ATM networks, digital channels and relationship-based delivery. The company offers deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage origination and servicing, and payment and treasury services.

In addition to core banking, Regions offers wealth management, trust and brokerage services, insurance solutions, and capital markets capabilities to corporate and institutional clients.