Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Reduces Stock Position in Bank OZK $OZK

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC decreased its position in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 258,651 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,362 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned about 0.23% of Bank OZK worth $13,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of OZK. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Bank OZK by 160.6% during the second quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 107,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,035,000 after buying an additional 65,946 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Bank OZK by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 694,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,705,000 after buying an additional 253,001 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Bank OZK by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,631,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,843,000 after buying an additional 226,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twin Lions Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank OZK by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. Twin Lions Management LLC now owns 340,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,016,000 after buying an additional 63,800 shares during the period. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on OZK shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $57.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, National Bankshares set a $67.00 target price on Bank OZK in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.75.

Bank OZK Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ OZK opened at $47.16 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $45.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Bank OZK has a 12-month low of $35.71 and a 12-month high of $53.66. The company has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.61 and a beta of 0.92.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by ($0.07). Bank OZK had a return on equity of 13.00% and a net margin of 25.81%.The company had revenue of $449.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $447.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 6.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 14th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 14th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is 29.03%.

Bank OZK Profile

Bank OZK, formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks, is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established in 1903, the bank offers a full suite of banking products and services to both individual and corporate clients. Through a combination of organic growth and targeted acquisitions, Bank OZK has built a diversified lending portfolio and a strong deposit franchise.

The bank’s core operations focus on commercial real estate lending, including acquisition, development and construction financing.