JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Has $81.28 Million Holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd cut its holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,854,885 shares of the company's stock after selling 137,586 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd owned about 1.63% of Bank OZK worth $81,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Bank OZK during the fourth quarter worth $853,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Bank OZK by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 5,842 shares of the company's stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Bank OZK by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 15,955 shares of the company's stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its position in Bank OZK by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 20,446 shares of the company's stock worth $910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Bank OZK by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 34,815 shares of the company's stock worth $1,550,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank OZK Price Performance

NASDAQ OZK traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $46.93. 914,443 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,335,409. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a PE ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.85. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $35.71 and a fifty-two week high of $53.64. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $42.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.84.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.05. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 13.90% and a net margin of 25.83%. The firm had revenue of $409.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $403.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Bank OZK will post 6.02 EPS for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. This is an increase from Bank OZK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Bank OZK's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on OZK. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Stephens dropped their price target on Bank OZK from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Bank OZK from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank OZK currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.13.

Bank OZK Company Profile

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.