California State Teachers Retirement System Has $6.11 Million Stake in Bank OZK $OZK

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 31.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 133,186 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,831 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $6,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of OZK. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Bank OZK by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,437,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,171,000 after buying an additional 1,924,387 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bank OZK during the fourth quarter worth about $59,809,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Bank OZK by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,556,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,712,000 after acquiring an additional 546,785 shares in the last quarter. Fairholme Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Bank OZK by 45.1% in the second quarter. Fairholme Capital Management LLC now owns 916,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,142,000 after acquiring an additional 285,150 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in Bank OZK by 41.7% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 929,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,673,000 after acquiring an additional 273,543 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Bank OZK Price Performance

NASDAQ:OZK opened at $51.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.50. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 0.89. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $42.37 and a 52-week high of $53.66.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 24.95%.The business had revenue of $430.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. Bank OZK’s revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, June 29th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on OZK. Wall Street Zen lowered Bank OZK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Bank OZK from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on Bank OZK from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.38.

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.