Zions Bancorporation, National Association (NASDAQ:ZION) to Repurchase $40.00 million in Stock

Zions Bancorporation, National Association (NASDAQ:ZION) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $40.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 0.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZION has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Zions Bancorporation, National Association from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Zions Bancorporation, National Association from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Zions Bancorporation, National Association from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $71.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Zions Bancorporation, National Association from $54.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Zions Bancorporation, National Association from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.71.

Zions Bancorporation, National Association Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Zions Bancorporation, National Association stock opened at $53.34 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $55.87 and a 200-day moving average of $53.30. The stock has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of 10.78, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. Zions Bancorporation, National Association has a 52-week low of $38.01 and a 52-week high of $63.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Zions Bancorporation, National Association (NASDAQ:ZION) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $820.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $787.70 million. Zions Bancorporation, National Association had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 13.65%. Zions Bancorporation, National Association’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Zions Bancorporation, National Association will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Zions Bancorporation, National Association Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 13th. Zions Bancorporation, National Association’s payout ratio is 34.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jennifer Anne Smith sold 22,673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.47, for a total value of $1,280,344.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655,305.11. This represents a 43.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven Dan Stephens sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.71, for a total value of $557,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,554,136.37. This represents a 17.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,713 shares of company stock valued at $1,839,686. 2.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Zions Bancorporation, National Association Company Profile

Zions Bancorporation, National Association provides various banking products and related services primarily in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. It operates through Zions Bank, California Bank & Trust, Amegy Bank, National Bank of Arizona, Nevada State Bank, Vectra Bank Colorado, and The Commerce Bank of Washington segments.