United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 9,559 Zions Bancorporation, N.A. $ZION

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (NASDAQ:ZION) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,559 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ZION. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. in the second quarter valued at $982,244,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Zions Bancorporation, N.A. by 0.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,477,126 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $430,813,000 after purchasing an additional 56,438 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Zions Bancorporation, N.A. by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,888,064 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $227,607,000 after purchasing an additional 48,346 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Zions Bancorporation, N.A. by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,151,319 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $184,478,000 after purchasing an additional 306,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,963,545 shares of the bank’s stock worth $167,677,000 after buying an additional 711,218 shares in the last quarter. 76.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zions Bancorporation, N.A.

In other news, President Scott J. Mclean sold 33,285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.63, for a total transaction of $2,350,919.55. Following the transaction, the president owned 73,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,159,027.09. This represents a 31.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Derek Steward sold 894 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.65, for a total value of $62,267.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 17,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,215,322.85. The trade was a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 88,787 shares of company stock worth $6,283,858 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ZION. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zions Bancorporation, N.A. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.29.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Trading Down 1.6%

ZION stock opened at $66.69 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has a twelve month low of $46.19 and a twelve month high of $73.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.83.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (NASDAQ:ZION) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The bank reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $877.44 million. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. had a net margin of 23.92% and a return on equity of 13.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Zions Bancorporation, N.A. will post 6.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 30th that allows the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 0.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. This is an increase from Zions Bancorporation, N.A.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Zions Bancorporation, N.A.’s payout ratio is 24.46%.

About Zions Bancorporation, N.A.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. is a bank holding company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, offering a full suite of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and institutions. Through its primary subsidiary, Zions Bank, the company provides commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management solutions designed to serve the needs of small businesses, middle‐market firms and high‐net‐worth clients. Its service portfolio includes deposit accounts, cash‐management tools, lending products, mortgage origination, treasury services and investment advisory services.

The company’s commercial banking segment delivers custom credit and treasury management services, including working capital lines of credit, equipment financing and international trade finance.