Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

GSBC has been the subject of several other reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Great Southern Bancorp from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of GSBC stock opened at $73.63 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $801.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.93 and a 200 day moving average of $65.30. Great Southern Bancorp has a 52 week low of $53.76 and a 52 week high of $76.92.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $55.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.75 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 21.33%. As a group, research analysts expect that Great Southern Bancorp will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Great Southern Bancorp

In other news, VP John M. Bugh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.59, for a total transaction of $168,975.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,986.10. This represents a 58.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Kevin L. Baker sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $195,888.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 14 shares in the company, valued at $979.44. This trade represents a 99.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 13,687 shares of company stock valued at $938,407 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 29.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GSBC. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Great Southern Bancorp by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Great Southern Bancorp by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Great Southern Bancorp by 68.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 5,546 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $1,146,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Great Southern Bancorp by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 13,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $798,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: GSBC) is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Through its subsidiary, the company provides a broad spectrum of financial products and services designed to meet the needs of individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and professional clients across its regional footprint.

Great Southern Bank’s core business activities include deposit-taking, lending and treasury management.