American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 112,048 Shares of Bank OZK $OZK

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,743,655 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 112,048 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 2.41% of Bank OZK worth $139,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank OZK during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Bank OZK by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 590 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank OZK during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 147.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 568 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 82.2% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 665 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on OZK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Bank OZK from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler set a $62.00 target price on Bank OZK in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Bank OZK from $56.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.78.

Bank OZK Trading Down 5.6%

Shares of Bank OZK stock opened at $46.56 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.55 and a beta of 0.93. Bank OZK has a 12-month low of $35.71 and a 12-month high of $53.66. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $48.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.03). Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.50% and a return on equity of 12.65%. The business had revenue of $436.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $434.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 13th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 13th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is 29.82%.

Bank OZK Profile

Bank OZK, formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks, is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established in 1903, the bank offers a full suite of banking products and services to both individual and corporate clients. Through a combination of organic growth and targeted acquisitions, Bank OZK has built a diversified lending portfolio and a strong deposit franchise.

The bank’s core operations focus on commercial real estate lending, including acquisition, development and construction financing.