Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $50.00.

A number of analysts have commented on OZK shares. Stephens boosted their price objective on Bank OZK from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised Bank OZK from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group started coverage on Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Bank OZK from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank OZK

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 30.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 254,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,958,000 after purchasing an additional 59,907 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 6.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,022,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,989,000 after purchasing an additional 126,352 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 68.6% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 34,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,189 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 112.8% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 51,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,223,000 after purchasing an additional 27,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 124.6% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,698,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,034,000 after purchasing an additional 942,309 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of Bank OZK stock opened at $50.87 on Friday. Bank OZK has a one year low of $37.43 and a one year high of $51.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.29 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $412.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $407.19 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 25.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.36%.

About Bank OZK

Bank OZK provides various retail and commercial banking services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers deposit services, including non-interest bearing checking, interest bearing transaction, business sweep, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other accounts, as well as time and reciprocal deposits.