Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the bank on Monday, July 1st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.09%.

Regions Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 12.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Regions Financial has a payout ratio of 43.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Regions Financial to earn $2.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.2%.

Regions Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE RF opened at $18.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Regions Financial has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $21.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.28 and its 200 day moving average is $17.97.

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.09). Regions Financial had a return on equity of 14.50% and a net margin of 22.66%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Regions Financial will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Regions Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Regions Financial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 309,383 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,996,000 after acquiring an additional 6,259 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Regions Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $498,000. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in Regions Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $326,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 391,571 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,589,000 after purchasing an additional 10,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Regions Financial by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 98,501 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 14,082 shares in the last quarter. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Regions Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Regions Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective (up from $20.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Argus lowered Regions Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.39.

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.