Arizona State Retirement System Sells 442 Shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Arizona State Retirement System cut its holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,811 shares of the company’s stock after selling 442 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $1,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its stake in Bank OZK by 4,828.6% during the 1st quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Bank OZK during the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Bank OZK by 2,014.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bank OZK by 1,052.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 1,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 1,820 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on OZK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Bank OZK from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial raised 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. Stephens dropped their target price 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, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.75.

Bank OZK Trading Up 0.1%

Bank OZK stock opened at $51.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 0.85. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $35.71 and a fifty-two week high of $53.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $47.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.07. Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.83% and a return on equity of 13.37%. The company had revenue of $428.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $423.41 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 11th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

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.