Umpqua Holdings (UMPQ) Cheers Investors With Dividend Hike

Umpqua Holdings Corporation’s (NASDAQ:UMPQ) board of directors announced an 11.1% hike in the company’s quarterly common stock dividend in a bid to pass on tax-reform benefits to its shareholders. The revised quarterly dividend now comes in at 20 cents per share compared with the previous figure of 18 cents. This dividend will be paid on Apr 13 to shareholders of record as of Apr 2.

Since May 2013, Umpqua Holdings has been raising its dividend gradually. From paying 5 cents a share as quarterly dividend during the financial crisis, the company has come a long way in displaying its capital strength. Prior to this hike, the company had raised its dividend by 12.5% (from 16 cents to 18 cents per share) in September 2017.

Considering Friday’s closing price of $22.41 per share, the dividend yield is currently valued at 3.6%.

Notably, Umpqua Holdings is not the only bank that has undertaken such measures following the passage of the tax act. Several banks, including Washington Federal, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) , Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) and Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:TCBI) , also passed on the benefits to their employees in the form of pay rise and one-time bonus, and plan to upgrade technology as well.

Investors interested in this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock can have a look at the bank’s fundamentals and growth opportunities. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Revenue Growth: Organic growth remains solid at Umpqua Holdings. Sales witnessed a compound annual growth rate of 21.2% over the last five years (2013-2017). Further, the top line is projected to be up 6.1% in 2018 and 5.4% in 2019.

Earnings Strength: Umpqua Holdings recorded earnings growth rate of 4.55% over the last three to five years. Retaining this earnings momentum, the earnings growth rate is anticipated to be around 26.17% for the current year and 17.41% for 2019.

Stock is Undervalued: Umpqua Holdings has P/E ratio and P/B ratios of 16.61 and 1.23 compared to the S&P 500 average of 17.5 and 3.27, respectively. Based on these ratios, the stock seems undervalued.

Share Price Movement: Umpqua Holdings’ shares gained 18.1% over the past six months compared with 15.7% growth recorded by the industry.

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