Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $48.00 price target on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on OZK. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group cut Bank OZK from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Bank OZK from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Bank OZK from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Bank OZK from $62.00 to $57.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $49.14.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Shares of OZK stock opened at $46.37 on Monday. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $30.72 and a fifty-two week high of $52.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.47.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.07. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 14.84% and a net margin of 28.54%. The firm had revenue of $406.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $396.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.13%.

Institutional Trading of Bank OZK

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Bank OZK by 303.9% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 601.0% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.