Private Advisor Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Key Points

• The Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Bank OZK, acquiring 5,780 shares valued at approximately $251,000.
• Bank OZK recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.7%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Bank OZK, with the average rating being "Hold" and the average price target set at $52.88.

Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,102,657 shares of the company's stock worth $316,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149,880 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,945,480 shares of the company's stock valued at $131,162,000 after acquiring an additional 686,775 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,811,354 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,190,000 after acquiring an additional 314,488 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank OZK by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,038,463 shares of the company's stock worth $90,798,000 after buying an additional 15,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Bank OZK by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,786,155 shares of the company's stock worth $79,537,000 after buying an additional 87,299 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 research analysts have issued reports on OZK shares. Raymond James Financial upgraded Bank OZK from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. Finally, Stephens cut 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.88.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OZK traded down $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $47.95. 814,081 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,208,226. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Bank OZK has a 12-month low of $35.71 and a 12-month high of $53.64. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $48.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.51. The stock has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 0.86.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $428.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is an increase from Bank OZK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Bank OZK's 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.