UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Raises PT to $9.50 on Regions Financial Corporation; Estimates Raised on Housing Strength

Morgan Stanley maintained its Overweight rating on Regions Financial Corporation

and raised the price target from $9.00 to $9.50. Morgan Stanley analyst Betsy L. Graseck commented, "Raising our price target for RF from $9.00 to $9.50 as we take up EPS estimates by 2c in each 2013-14 on improving housing with 3-4% lower housing losses and $18-24m greater reserve bleed in 2013-14 vs our prior estimate. Our EPS estimates rise from $0.81 to $0.83 in 2013 and from $0.88 to $0.90 in 2014, which are 2% and 8% above consensus. Our new $9.50 price target provides 14% potential upside and ]implies 10.6x our 2014 EPS est and 0.78x 2014 P/B vs. 2014 ROE est of 7.6%." Regions Financial Corporation closed at $8.36 on Friday.