Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.42 Per Share

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a dividend of 0.42 per share on Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Bank OZK has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 28 years. Bank OZK has a dividend payout ratio of 25.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bank OZK to earn $5.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.1%.

Bank OZK Price Performance

OZK stock opened at $43.98 on Friday. 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 $46.61 and its 200-day moving average is $43.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.18. Bank OZK has a 1 year low of $37.43 and a 1 year high of $51.50.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on OZK shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bank OZK from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Raymond James cut shares of Bank OZK from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.33.

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.