American Century Companies Inc. Buys 238,810 Shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,176,997 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 238,810 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 1.92% of Bank OZK worth $96,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OZK. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Bank OZK in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 176.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Bank OZK by 81.3% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 948 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank OZK in the fourth quarter worth approximately $93,000. Institutional investors own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Bank OZK from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Bank OZK from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.38.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Bank OZK stock opened at $45.28 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 1.23. Bank OZK has a 1-year low of $37.43 and a 1-year high of $53.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $48.28 and a 200-day moving average of $46.00.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $412.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $407.19 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 25.83%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank OZK will post 6.02 EPS for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is presently 27.36%.

Bank OZK Profile

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.