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

Regions Financial Co. (NYSE:RF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given 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 5.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd.

Regions Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 3 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 Price Performance

NYSE:RF opened at $19.00 on Friday. Regions Financial has a 52 week low of $13.72 and a 52 week high of $21.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.46 billion, a PE ratio of 9.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.97.

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

Institutional Trading of Regions Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RF. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 0.8% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 149,877 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 23.5% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 24,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $553,000 after acquiring an additional 4,648 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 929.9% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,070,728 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,834,000 after acquiring an additional 966,768 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 44.7% in the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 15,715 shares of the bank’s stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 4,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Regions Financial by 41.7% in the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,505 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Regions Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Regions Financial from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of Regions Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.39.

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.