UMB Financial To Pay Dividend, Buy Back Stock

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — UMB Financial Corp. on Tuesday declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 17.5 cents, and announced plans to repurchase up to 2 million shares of its common stock.

The financial services company said the dividend is payable on July 1 to shareholders of record as of June 11.

Repurchasing stock takes a company's shares out of circulation, boosting the value of existing shares and fattening profits measured per-share. Companies usually repurchase shares when they feel their stock is undervalued.

The company has roughly 41 million shares outstanding.

UMB shares jumped $3.95, or 9 percent, to $47.26 in afternoon trading. The stock has lost nearly 12 percent since the start of the year.