Principal Financial Group Inc. Makes New $867,000 Investment in Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. $GSBC

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 13,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $867,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 1,301.8% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the period. Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $77,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $128,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $206,000. Institutional investors own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Great Southern Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Great Southern Bancorp from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Kevin L. Baker sold 2,800 shares of Great Southern Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $195,888.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 14 shares in the company, valued at $979.44. The trade was a 99.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 29.75% of the company’s stock.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of GSBC opened at $80.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $874.82 million, a PE ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $76.25 and a 200 day moving average of $68.68. Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.76 and a 52-week high of $82.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.19. Great Southern Bancorp had a net margin of 20.72% and a return on equity of 10.86%. The company had revenue of $56.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.26 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Great Southern Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 29th. Great Southern Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

Great Southern Bancorp Company Profile

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: GSBC) is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Through its subsidiary, the company provides a broad spectrum of financial products and services designed to meet the needs of individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and professional clients across its regional footprint.

Great Southern Bank’s core business activities include deposit-taking, lending and treasury management.