Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 3,862 Shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 8.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,318 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,862 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $1,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in OZK. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in Bank OZK by 68.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 34,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,499,000 after buying an additional 14,189 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Bank OZK by 112.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 51,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,223,000 after acquiring an additional 27,409 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Bank OZK by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,698,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,034,000 after acquiring an additional 942,309 shares in the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the 3rd quarter worth about $529,000. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 115.0% in the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 715,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,350,000 after purchasing an additional 382,896 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Bank OZK Trading Down 5.7 %

OZK opened at $43.79 on Thursday. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $37.43 and a fifty-two week high of $51.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company’s 50-day moving average is $46.54 and its 200 day moving average is $43.43.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $423.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $419.08 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 26.07%. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OZK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens lifted their target price on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Raymond James lowered shares of Bank OZK from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.33.

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.