Sciencast Management LP Purchases New Position in Bank OZK $OZK

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP acquired 5,700 shares of Bank OZK, valued at approximately $248,000, in the first quarter of 2023.
• Bank OZK recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.44, up from $0.43, reflecting an annualized yield of 3.4%.
• Wells Fargo & Company has raised its price target for Bank OZK from $48.00 to $49.00, while Raymond James upgraded the stock to "outperform" with a price target of $58.00.

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Bank OZK by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 23,693 shares of the company's stock worth $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Bank OZK by 55.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 129,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,639,000 after acquiring an additional 46,349 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Bank OZK by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,127,576 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,993,000 after acquiring an additional 23,492 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank OZK by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,614 shares of the company's stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Bank OZK by 5,021.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 243,668 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,587,000 after acquiring an additional 238,910 shares in the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OZK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stephens raised Bank OZK from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Raymond James Financial raised Bank OZK from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank OZK currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $54.25.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

OZK traded down $0.32 on Monday, reaching $51.87. 142,311 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,139,012. The company's 50-day moving average price is $50.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.56. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $35.71 and a fifty-two week high of $53.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a boost from Bank OZK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Bank OZK's payout ratio is presently 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.