Morgan Stanley Increases Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Price Target to $61.00

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $57.00 to $61.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 29.40% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on OZK. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Bank OZK from $56.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Bank OZK in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.22.

Bank OZK Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of OZK stock opened at $47.14 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.11 and a 200-day moving average of $48.38. The stock has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.93. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $35.71 and a 52-week high of $53.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $434.68 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Bank OZK

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Bank OZK by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,437,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,171,000 after buying an additional 1,924,387 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,587,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,141,000 after acquiring an additional 124,691 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,556,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,712,000 after acquiring an additional 546,785 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank OZK by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,554,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,576,000 after acquiring an additional 73,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Bank OZK by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,901,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,532,000 after purchasing an additional 93,445 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Bank OZK Company 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.