Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Stock Position Boosted by Entropy Technologies LP

Entropy Technologies LP boosted its stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 60.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 52,561 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,809 shares during the quarter. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $2,389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank OZK during the 1st quarter valued at about $418,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 98.4% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 121,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after buying an additional 60,297 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 92,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,186,000 after buying an additional 1,192 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 24.8% during the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 2,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Bank OZK by 22.8% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 2,274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank OZK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Bank OZK from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $57.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.14.

Bank OZK Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ OZK traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.92. The company had a trading volume of 2,123,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,296,577. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 1.20. Bank OZK has a 12-month low of $34.76 and a 12-month high of $52.36.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $406.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.81 million. Bank OZK had a net margin of 28.54% and a return on equity of 14.84%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bank OZK will post 6.05 EPS for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 19th. Investors of record on Friday, July 12th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 12th. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.80%.

Bank OZK Company 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.