Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Shares Cross Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $74.72 and traded as high as $77.90. Great Southern Bancorp shares last traded at $77.50, with a volume of 50,588 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Great Southern Bancorp from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research lowered Great Southern Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Great Southern Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Down 0.1%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $837.34 million, a P/E ratio of 12.76 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.82.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $56.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.26 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.83% and a net margin of 20.72%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great Southern Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Great Southern Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great Southern Bancorp news, Director Julie Brown sold 851 shares of Great Southern Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $68,931.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $571,212. The trade was a 10.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 29.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GSBC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $60,624,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $8,793,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp during the second quarter worth $4,237,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp during the second quarter worth $3,412,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp during the second quarter worth $2,010,000. 41.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service financial institution headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Through its banking subsidiary, the company provides deposit accounts, lending products and other financial services to individuals, families, businesses and commercial real estate customers.

Great Southern Bank offers checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer loans, residential real estate loans, commercial and industrial financing, commercial real estate loans, construction loans and agricultural lending.