Brokerages Set Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) PT at $56.89

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.8889.

Several research firms recently weighed in on OZK. UBS Group began coverage on Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Bank OZK from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Bank OZK from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 34.9% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,437,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,171,000 after buying an additional 1,924,387 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,625,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,045,000 after buying an additional 38,592 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,556,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,712,000 after buying an additional 546,785 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,554,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,576,000 after buying an additional 73,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 4.6% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,036,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,327,000 after buying an additional 134,490 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank OZK Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ:OZK opened at $47.71 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $47.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.19. Bank OZK has a 52 week low of $42.37 and a 52 week high of $53.66. The company has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Bank OZK had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 25.27%.The firm had revenue of $424.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $422.62 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 6.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Monday, April 13th were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 13th. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is 30.62%.

About Bank OZK

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.