Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

OZK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bank OZK from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Shares of OZK opened at $50.33 on Friday. Bank OZK has a twelve month low of $42.37 and a twelve month high of $53.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $50.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $430.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $436.42 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 24.95%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank OZK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, June 29th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Bank OZK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 34.9% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,437,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,924,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank OZK during the fourth quarter valued at $59,809,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Bank OZK by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,556,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,712,000 after purchasing an additional 546,785 shares in the last quarter. Fairholme Capital Management LLC increased its position in Bank OZK by 45.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fairholme Capital Management LLC now owns 916,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,142,000 after purchasing an additional 285,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Bank OZK by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 929,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,673,000 after purchasing an additional 273,543 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Bank OZK Company Profile

Bank OZK, formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks, is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established in 1903, the bank offers a full suite of banking products and services to both individual and corporate clients. Through a combination of organic growth and targeted acquisitions, Bank OZK has built a diversified lending portfolio and a strong deposit franchise.

The bank’s core operations focus on commercial real estate lending, including acquisition, development and construction financing.