PacWest, Western Alliance, Comerica And Zions Bancorp Shares Are Rising: What's Going On With Regional Bank Stocks?

PacWest Bancorp PACW, Western Alliance Bancorp WAL and other regional bank stocks are on the move Monday. PacWest is leading the sector higher after the company cut its dividend in an effort to conserve cash late Friday.

What Happened: PacWest declared a quarterly cash dividend of 1 cent per share, payable on May 31 to stockholders of record on May 15. The bank also declared a dividend of $0.4845 per depositary share on its preferred stock, payable June 1 to stockholders on record as of May 15. 

"Given current economic uncertainty, recent volatility in the banking sector and potential changes in regulatory capital requirements, we view reducing the dividend as a prudent step to accelerate our plans to build capital to CET1 of 10%+," said Paul Taylor, president and CEO of PacWest.

"Our business remains fundamentally sound, and we will continue with our strategy to focus on our relationship-based community banking model."

Western Alliance shares are moving higher on continued momentum in the sector after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to Overweight on Friday and set a price target of $46. JPMorgan also upgraded Comerica Inc CMA and Zions Bancorp ZION, which is driving increased attention in the pair of bank stocks to start the week. 

See Also: Are Bank Stocks Signaling Mayday Call? Expert Warns This Index Falling Below 2007 Peak Would Be Ominous For Market

Price Action: PacWest was up 34.2% at $7.73, Western Alliance was up 13.2% at $30.75, Comerica was up 8.1% at $39.39 and Zions was up 8.1% at $25.69 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Jerome Strauss from Flickr.