Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. Bank OZK had a net margin of 30.69% and a return on equity of 15.13%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS.

Bank OZK Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Bank OZK stock opened at $41.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.12 and a beta of 1.27. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $30.72 and a 52-week high of $52.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.15.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is a boost from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is 26.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of OZK. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bank OZK by 1,508.4% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,313,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,237,000 after buying an additional 4,045,472 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 105.3% during the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 75,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,923 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 10.7% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,791,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,144 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank OZK during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,878,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 204.2% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,409,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,460,000 after purchasing an additional 946,106 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OZK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group lowered shares of Bank OZK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $62.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Bank OZK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.14.

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.