Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 15.13% and a net margin of 30.69%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS.

Bank OZK Stock Up 0.1 %

OZK stock opened at $41.82 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.15. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $30.72 and a fifty-two week high of $52.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.12 and a beta of 1.27.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is 26.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OZK. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Bank OZK by 1,508.4% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,313,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,237,000 after buying an additional 4,045,472 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Bank OZK by 105.3% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 75,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,037,000 after buying an additional 1,502,923 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Bank OZK by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,791,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,476,000 after buying an additional 1,235,144 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank OZK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,878,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank OZK by 204.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,409,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,460,000 after purchasing an additional 946,106 shares in the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OZK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James upgraded Bank OZK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com lowered Bank OZK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Bank OZK from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup reduced their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank OZK presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.14.

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.