Bank OZK $OZK Shares Bought by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 146.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,332 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,478 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,437,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,924,387 shares during the last quarter. Fairholme Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Bank OZK by 45.1% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in Bank OZK during the 3rd quarter valued at $13,014,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Bank OZK by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 788,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,214,000 after acquiring an additional 222,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Bank OZK by 36.7% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 793,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,356,000 after acquiring an additional 213,101 shares in the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on OZK shares. UBS Group began coverage on Bank OZK in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.89.

Bank OZK Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:OZK opened at $49.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $47.67 and its 200-day moving average is $47.24. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $42.37 and a 52-week high of $53.66. The company has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 0.90.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.27% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $424.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $422.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank OZK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 13th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 13th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.62%.

About Bank OZK

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.