Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 7,945 Shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 78,014 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,945 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.07% of Bank OZK worth $3,474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Bank OZK during the 4th quarter valued at about $729,000. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC now owns 91,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,053,000 after purchasing an additional 15,343 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in shares of Bank OZK by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 156,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,038,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,798,000 after buying an additional 15,484 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its holdings in Bank OZK by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 87,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,916,000 after buying an additional 2,072 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on OZK shares. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.13.

Bank OZK Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ OZK opened at $41.38 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. Bank OZK has a 52 week low of $35.71 and a 52 week high of $53.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.82.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.05. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 25.83%. The company had revenue of $409.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $403.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.51 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is 28.20%.

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.