Welch & Forbes LLC Has $793,000 Stock Holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its stake in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,919 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,130 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank OZK by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,994,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,018,000 after buying an additional 35,215 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank OZK by 18.1% during the third quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,031,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,308,000 after purchasing an additional 311,293 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 0.8% in the third quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 1,210,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,858,000 after purchasing an additional 9,857 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Bank OZK by 423.9% in the third quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,085,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,235,000 after purchasing an additional 878,212 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 716,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,553,000 after acquiring an additional 178,620 shares during the period. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Bank OZK from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $62.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank OZK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank OZK presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.14.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Bank OZK stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 222,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,174,909. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Bank OZK has a 1-year low of $30.72 and a 1-year high of $52.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.12. The company has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 1.24.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.07. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 14.84% and a net margin of 28.54%. The business had revenue of $406.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.13%.

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.