Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) headlining after earnings

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) reported earnings for the three months ended Mar2016 on April 15, 2016. The company earned $0.2 per share on revenue of $1.37B. Analysts had been modeling earning per share of $0.19 with $1.33B in revenue.

Regions Financial Corporation (RF) on April 15, 2016 announced earnings for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. The company reported net income available to common shareholders of $257 million, an increase of 18 percent compared to the first quarter of 2015. Earnings per diluted share were $0.20, an increase of $0.04 from the first quarter of 2015.

“These results illustrate that we are successfully executing our strategic plan, which includes reducing expenses so we can invest in new revenue initiatives,” said Chairman, President and CEO Grayson Hall. “We are demonstrating that we can increase revenue while prudently managing expenses, which puts us on track to reach our long-term performance targets.”

During the first quarter of 2016, the company incurred $14 million of property-related expenses primarily related to previously announced branch consolidations as well as occupancy optimization initiatives. The company also incurred $12 million of severance expense, primarily related to efficiency efforts as the company executes its plan to eliminate $300 million in core expenses over the next three years.

The company also recorded additional income in bank-owned life insurance of $14 million in the first quarter related to a claim benefit as well as a gain on exchange of policies. In addition, professional and legal fees benefited from a $7 million settlement recovery, and insurance proceeds of $3 million were recognized related to prior legal matters.

Regions Financial Corporation earnings per share showed a decreasing trend of -2.9% for the current fiscal year. The company’s expected EPS growth rate for next fiscal year is 93%.Analysts project EPS growth over the next 5 years at 7.73%. It has EPS annual growth over the past 5 fiscal years of 27.3% when sales declined -4.9. It reported 8.7% sales growth, and 22.9% EPS growth in the last quarter.

The stock is trading at $9.83, up 41.48% from 52-week low of $7. The stock trades down -7.74% from its peak of $10.87 and 0.92% above the consensus price target of $9.92. Its volume clocked up at 24.98 million shares which is higher than the average volume of 19.7 million shares. Its market capitalization currently stands at $12.50B.