Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on RF. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. Bank of America upped their price target on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Regions Financial from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of Regions Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.86.

Regions Financial Price Performance

Shares of RF remained flat at $23.99 during trading hours on Thursday. The stock had a trading volume of 12,406,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,909,820. Regions Financial has a 1 year low of $13.72 and a 1 year high of $24.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is $22.58 and its 200 day moving average is $20.86. The firm has a market cap of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.17.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. Regions Financial had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 18.91%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Regions Financial will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Regions Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cincinnati Insurance Co. purchased a new position in Regions Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $74,606,000. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Regions Financial in the first quarter worth $33,829,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Regions Financial by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,252,693 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $285,562,000 after purchasing an additional 979,597 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Regions Financial during the first quarter valued at $19,322,000. Finally, Main Street Research LLC increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 117.0% in the 1st quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 1,283,914 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,314,000 after buying an additional 692,144 shares in the last quarter. 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.