Bank of New York Mellon Corp Acquires Shares of 1,217,324 Bank OZK $OZK

Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,217,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,410,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Bank OZK by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 531,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,475,000 after purchasing an additional 63,051 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Bank OZK by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,869,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,031,000 after buying an additional 50,985 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 33.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 774,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,530,000 after buying an additional 192,237 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the 4th quarter worth $3,861,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 231,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,631,000 after acquiring an additional 24,485 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on OZK shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Zacks Research cut Bank OZK from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Bank OZK from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Bank OZK in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.88.

Bank OZK Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of OZK opened at $49.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 0.89. Bank OZK has a twelve month low of $42.37 and a twelve month high of $53.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.81.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $430.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.42 million. Bank OZK had a net margin of 24.95% and a return on equity of 11.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 13th. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.74%.

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

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.