Cetera Investment Advisers Grows Position in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,712 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,281 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Bank OZK were worth $1,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Bank OZK by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 254,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,958,000 after purchasing an additional 59,907 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Bank OZK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $307,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Bank OZK by 60.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 1,788 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Bank OZK by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $701,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. 86.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on OZK shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. 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 report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.13.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of OZK stock opened at $46.37 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a PE ratio of 7.55 and a beta of 0.85. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $35.71 and a 52-week high of $53.64.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $409.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $403.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 6.02 EPS for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th were paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 14th. This is a boost from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.20%.

Bank OZK 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.