Advisors Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Bank OZK $OZK

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC bought 7,340 shares of Bank OZK valued at approximately $319,000, indicating institutional interest in the stock.
• Bank OZK reported earnings of $1.58 per share, surpassing expectations of $1.51, along with a revenue of $428.04 million.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share, reflecting a positive move in shareholder returns with a yield of 3.4%.

Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,340 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $319,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank OZK by 55.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 129,980 shares of the company's stock worth $5,639,000 after acquiring an additional 46,349 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $48,993,000 after acquiring an additional 23,492 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank OZK by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,614 shares of the company's stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank OZK by 5,021.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 243,668 shares of the company's stock worth $10,587,000 after acquiring an additional 238,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Bank OZK from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. 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 research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Bank OZK from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $54.25.

Bank OZK Price Performance

OZK traded up $1.17 on Thursday, reaching $53.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,321,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 746,075. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $35.71 and a fifty-two week high of $53.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $51.04 and a 200-day moving average of $46.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. 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 3.3%. Bank OZK's payout ratio is 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.