South Dakota Investment Council Acquires 53,900 Shares of Bank OZK $OZK

South Dakota Investment Council boosted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 103.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 105,814 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 53,900 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $5,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 590 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Bank OZK by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Bank OZK by 20.8% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in Bank OZK by 82.2% during the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Bank OZK by 0.6% in the third quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 51,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on OZK shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Bank OZK from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler set a $62.00 price objective on Bank OZK in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Bank OZK from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.22.

Bank OZK Stock Down 1.1%

OZK stock opened at $47.14 on Wednesday. Bank OZK has a twelve month low of $35.71 and a twelve month high of $53.66. The company has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $1.53 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $436.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $434.68 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 13th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 13th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.82%.

Bank OZK 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.