TD Cowen Cuts Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Price Target to $52.00

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) had its price objective lowered by TD Cowen from $53.00 to $52.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on OZK. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank OZK from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group started coverage on Bank OZK in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bank OZK from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Shares of Bank OZK stock opened at $50.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Bank OZK has a twelve month low of $42.37 and a twelve month high of $53.66. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.29. The firm has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32 and a beta of 0.89.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $430.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.42 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 24.95%.Bank OZK’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.47 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, June 29th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank OZK

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OZK. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Bank OZK by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,437,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,924,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bank OZK during the 4th quarter worth $59,809,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Bank OZK by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,556,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,712,000 after purchasing an additional 546,785 shares during the last quarter. Fairholme Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 45.1% during the second quarter. Fairholme Capital Management LLC now owns 916,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,142,000 after buying an additional 285,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 41.7% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 929,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,673,000 after buying an additional 273,543 shares in the last quarter. 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.