Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV Takes $1.49 Million Position in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Key Points

• Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. has invested approximately $1.49 million in Bank OZK, acquiring 34,320 shares in the first quarter, according to their SEC filing.
• Analysts show mixed ratings for Bank OZK, with an average rating of "Hold" and a price target range of $48.00 to $58.00 from various financial firms.
• Bank OZK recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.44, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.42%, reflecting a steady commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV bought a new stake in 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 (SEC). The firm bought 34,320 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,491,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of OZK. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Bank OZK in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $147,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 387,492 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,837,000 after acquiring an additional 25,297 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank OZK during the first quarter valued at approximately $636,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Bank OZK by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 32,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,430,000 after buying an additional 2,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 3.7% during the first quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,132 shares of the company's stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.18% of the company's stock.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

OZK traded down $0.75 on Thursday, reaching $49.15. The company had a trading volume of 470,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,203,844. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company's fifty day moving average is $47.99 and its 200 day moving average is $46.41. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $35.71 and a fifty-two week high of $53.64. The stock has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.00 and a beta of 0.85.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.07. Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.83% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The company had revenue of $428.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $423.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Investors of record on Friday, July 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. This is a positive change from Bank OZK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 11th. Bank OZK's payout ratio is 28.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on OZK shares. Stephens lowered their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of 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 objective on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.88.

About Bank OZK

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.