Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $853,000 in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 19,163 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $853,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of OZK. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 143.9% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 78,318 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,488,000 after acquiring an additional 46,203 shares during the last quarter. GTS Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the 4th quarter valued at $340,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Bank OZK by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 38,327 shares of the company's stock worth $1,707,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Bank OZK by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 323,073 shares of the company's stock worth $14,386,000 after buying an additional 24,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bank OZK by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 12,578 shares of the company's stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $50.86.

Bank OZK Price Performance

OZK traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $44.40. 719,187 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,296,959. 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 capitalization of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 0.85. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $35.71 and a 52-week high of $53.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.78.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $409.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $403.05 million. Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.83% and a return on equity of 13.90%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. This is a boost from Bank OZK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 14th. Bank OZK's dividend payout ratio is 28.20%.

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.