Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys Shares of 49,259 Zions Bancorporation, N.A. $ZION

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (NASDAQ:ZION) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 49,259 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,408,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ZION. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $982,244,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 worth $430,813,000 after purchasing an additional 56,438 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings 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 raised its position in shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. by 31.6% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,963,545 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $167,677,000 after purchasing an additional 711,218 shares during the period. 76.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ZION. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Evercore lowered Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $69.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.29.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Stock Up 0.1%

ZION opened at $69.37 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has a twelve month low of $46.19 and a twelve month high of $73.34. The firm has a market cap of $10.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.84, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a positive change from Zions Bancorporation, N.A.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Zions Bancorporation, N.A.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.46%.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 30th that permits the company to repurchase $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 0.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Zions Bancorporation, N.A.

In other news, President Scott Mclean sold 33,285 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.63, for a total value of $2,350,919.55. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 73,043 shares in the company, valued at $5,159,027.09. This trade represents a 31.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Derek Steward sold 894 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.65, for a total value of $62,267.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 17,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,215,322.85. This trade represents a 4.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 88,787 shares of company stock worth $6,283,858 in the last quarter. 1.43% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Profile

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.