Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $76.24 and last traded at $75.39, with a volume of 95235 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $74.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GSBC. Weiss Ratings raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Great Southern Bancorp from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $821.00 million, a P/E ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 0.50.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.31. Great Southern Bancorp had a net margin of 21.33% and a return on equity of 11.29%. The firm had revenue of $55.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.75 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great Southern Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 30th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 30th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Great Southern Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.26%.

Insider Activity

In other Great Southern Bancorp news, VP John M. Bugh sold 2,500 shares of Great Southern Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.59, for a total transaction of $168,975.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 1,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,986.10. This trade represents a 58.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Joseph W. Turner sold 6,000 shares of Great Southern Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.16, for a total transaction of $408,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 136,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,282,165.12. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 13,687 shares of company stock worth $938,407 in the last quarter. 29.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GSBC. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 1,301.8% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Sarver Vrooman Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $77,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $128,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

Great Southern Bancorp Company Profile

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: GSBC) is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Through its subsidiary, the company provides a broad spectrum of financial products and services designed to meet the needs of individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and professional clients across its regional footprint.

Great Southern Bank’s core business activities include deposit-taking, lending and treasury management.