Legal & General Group Plc Invests $14.55 Million in Zions Bancorporation, N.A. $ZION

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (NASDAQ:ZION) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 210,338 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $14,553,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.14% of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Evercore cut Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $68.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Zions Bancorporation, N.A. from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.29.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Price Performance

NASDAQ:ZION opened at $67.78 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has a one year low of $46.19 and a one year high of $73.34. The company has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. This is a positive change from Zions Bancorporation, N.A.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Zions Bancorporation, N.A.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.46%.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 30th that permits the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 0.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Scott A. Law sold 4,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.42, for a total transaction of $333,711.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,381,893.80. This trade represents a 12.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Scott J. Mclean sold 33,285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.63, for a total value of $2,350,919.55. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 73,043 shares in the company, valued at $5,159,027.09. This trade represents a 31.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 88,787 shares of company stock valued at $6,283,858 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.43% of the company’s stock.

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Company 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.