260,000 Shares in Bank OZK $OZK Bought by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired 260,000 shares of Bank OZK, valued at approximately $11.3 million, according to a recent SEC filing.
• Bank OZK announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44, representing a 3.6% yield, which is an increase from its previous dividend of $0.43.
• The company's earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter was reported at $1.58, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.51.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 260,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,297,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.23% of Bank OZK as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 14.8% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 16,011 shares of the company's stock valued at $696,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 266.3% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,553 shares of the company's stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 2,583 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 48.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 113,082 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,913,000 after buying an additional 36,755 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bank OZK by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,798 shares of the company's stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 1,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the 1st quarter valued at about $8,500,000. Institutional investors own 86.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens raised shares of Bank OZK from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Bank OZK from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $54.25.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of Bank OZK stock traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $49.97. The company had a trading volume of 69,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,179,834. Bank OZK has a 12-month low of $35.71 and a 12-month high of $53.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 0.86.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $428.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $423.41 million. Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.83% and a return on equity of 13.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. This is an increase from Bank OZK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Bank OZK's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

Bank OZK 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.