Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $73.49 and last traded at $73.29, with a volume of 39818 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $72.46.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GSBC shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Great Southern Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Great Southern Bancorp from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Great Southern Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Trading Up 2.2%

The stock has a market cap of $806.52 million, a P/E ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $67.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $55.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.75 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a net margin of 21.33% and a return on equity of 11.29%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Great Southern Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 30th were issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 30th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Great Southern Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.26%.

Insider Activity at Great Southern Bancorp

In related news, CEO Joseph W. Turner sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.16, for a total value of $408,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 136,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,282,165.12. The trade was a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Mark A. Maples sold 2,387 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.95, for a total transaction of $164,583.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 1,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,843.65. This trade represents a 66.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 13,687 shares of company stock valued at $938,407 over the last ninety days. 29.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Great Southern Bancorp by 1,301.8% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $77,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Great Southern Bancorp by 24.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the third quarter worth $128,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $203,000. 41.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Great Southern Bancorp Company Profile

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: GSBC) is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Through its subsidiary, the company provides a broad spectrum of financial products and services designed to meet the needs of individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and professional clients across its regional footprint.

Great Southern Bank’s core business activities include deposit-taking, lending and treasury management.