Stevens Capital Management LP Boosts Holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Stevens Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 142.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,388 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 15,526 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $1,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in OZK. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 1.9% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 13,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 31,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 46,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on OZK. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Bank OZK from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank OZK has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.38.

Bank OZK Price Performance

OZK stock opened at $44.31 on Friday. Bank OZK has a 12 month low of $37.43 and a 12 month high of $53.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 1.23. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.23 and a 200-day moving average of $45.94.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.12. Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.83% and a return on equity of 13.90%. The business had revenue of $412.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $407.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.50 earnings per share. Bank OZK’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 14th. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is presently 27.36%.

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.