Zions (ZION) Announces New Share Repurchase Plan for 2024
Zions Bancorporation ZION has announced a new share repurchase plan for 2024. The plan authorizes the company to buy back up to $35 million worth of shares.
ZION has repurchased shares in each of the last three years, indicating an impressive capital distribution plan on the back of anticipated organic growth. ZION repurchased 0.9 million shares during the first nine months of 2023 but refrained from repurchasing any shares in the fourth quarter due to macroeconomic uncertainties.
Concurrently, the company announced a regular quarterly dividend of 41 cents per share. The dividend will be paid out on Feb 22, 2024, to shareholders of record as of Feb 15.
The company has been paying out this same dividend amount for the last six quarters. Based on yesterday’s closing price of $38.90, the annualized dividend yield currently stands at 4.21%. This is impressive compared with the industry’s yield of 3.27%.
Additionally, the five-year annualized dividend growth rate is 6.84%, with a dividend payout ratio of 34%.
As of Dec 31, 2023, the estimated CET1 capital ratio was 10.3%, up from 9.8% in the prior year period. As of the same date, cash & due from banks was $716 million and long-term debt was $542 million, thereby providing a cushion in terms of liquidity.
Given its strong balance sheet and liquidity position, Zions is expected to be able to sustain current capital distributions in the future. This will keep enhancing shareholder value.
Shares of ZION have risen 2% over the past six months compared with the industry growth of 1.6%.
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Currently, ZION has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Share Buyback Plans of Other Banks
This January, Capital City Bank CCBG announced a new repurchase program. The program equips the bank to buy back up to 750,000 shares of common stock over the next five years. This represents 4.4% of the bank’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock.
CCBG terminated an existing repurchase program in order to pursue the new one, indicating certain capital distribution tweaks. The current plan does not obligate the bank to buy back any specified number of shares.
In December 2023, Cadence Bank CADE announced a new share buyback plan, effective Jan 2, 2024, through Dec 31, 2024. Under the plan, which is subject to regulatory approval, the board authorized the bank to buy back up to an aggregate of 10 million shares.
The buyback will be carried out periodically either through open market transactions, private placements, or any other means permissible within Federal securities laws. CADE did not execute the previous repurchase plan, which expired on Dec 29, 2023.
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