Morgan Stanley Reiterates “Equal Weight” Rating for Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Morgan Stanley reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $48.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on OZK. UBS Group downgraded Bank OZK from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Bank OZK from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James raised Bank OZK from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Bank OZK from $62.00 to $57.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank OZK has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $48.25.

Bank OZK Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Bank OZK stock opened at $45.18 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.42 and a 200-day moving average of $43.33. The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 1.27. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $30.72 and a 52-week high of $52.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $406.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $396.81 million. Bank OZK had a net margin of 28.54% and a return on equity of 14.84%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This is a boost from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank OZK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 303.9% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 25.5% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 601.0% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Bank OZK Company Profile

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.