Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $48.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $40.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on OZK. UBS Group assumed coverage on Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price target on the stock. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.00.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of OZK stock opened at $50.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. Bank OZK has a 52 week low of $37.43 and a 52 week high of $51.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $46.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.43. The company has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.29 and a beta of 1.20.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $412.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $407.19 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 25.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.50 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Bank OZK will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 14th. This is a boost from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.36%.

Institutional Trading of Bank OZK

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bank OZK by 291.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,371,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,765,974 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,223,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,198 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Bank OZK by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,698,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,034,000 after purchasing an additional 942,309 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Bank OZK by 196.4% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,365,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,981,000 after purchasing an additional 904,782 shares during the period. Finally, Berkley W R Corp bought a new stake in Bank OZK in the second quarter worth $24,600,000. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.