Covered, compounding — at a low payout. A 2.90% yield on a 23.6% trailing payout is covered income with a wide cushion: $0.48 a quarter, raised in July 2026 by 6.7% from $0.45, extending 12 consecutive years of increases. Most earnings stay retained behind the dividend, which is what a regional bank needs when western commercial and middle-market credit turns.
Key risk: Western commercial credit — Zions is concentrated in 11 western states and small- and middle-market lending, so a regional downturn or a rise in commercial loan losses would hit earnings before it touched the dividend.
Changes if: The trailing payout pushes well past 23.6%, or the dividend stops growing after the July 2026 raise. Coverage, not the yield, is the tripwire here.
- ✓Payout-coverage check: 23.6% trailing — the $1.92 indicated dividend costs less than a quarter of trailing earnings, leaving most earnings retained.
- ✓Yield check: 2.90% indicated — $0.48/qtr × 4 at the $66.20 close on Oct. 23, 2026. Real, earned yield from banking earnings, not a special or a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: 12 consecutive years of increases; the latest raise, declared Jul. 30, 2026, lifted the quarterly dividend 6.7%, from $0.45 to $0.48, paid Aug. 20, 2026.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.