Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Trading 2.7% Higher Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)’s stock price traded up 2.7% during trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $42.99 and last traded at $42.96. 121,522 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,166,475 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.82.

The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.07. Bank OZK had a net margin of 30.69% and a return on equity of 15.13%. The firm had revenue of $406.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is presently 26.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OZK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group downgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 5th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 66.0% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank OZK in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank OZK in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Bank OZK in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 94.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.46 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.15.

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.