QV Investors Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

QV Investors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 163,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,460 shares during the period. QV Investors Inc. owned 0.14% of Bank OZK worth $7,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OZK. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Bank OZK by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 13,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Bank OZK by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in Bank OZK by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 7,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Bank OZK by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Bank OZK by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. 86.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OZK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James downgraded Bank OZK from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Bank OZK from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Bank OZK from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stephens lifted their price objective on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.25.

Bank OZK Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of OZK traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $42.01. 705,899 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,215,144. Bank OZK has a 52 week low of $37.43 and a 52 week high of $51.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $46.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.08. The company has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.20.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.02. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 26.07%. The business had revenue of $423.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $419.08 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.00%. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.63%.

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.