Bank OZK $OZK Shares Bought by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 5.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 918,897 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,300 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $42,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in OZK. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bank OZK by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,437,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,924,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bank OZK during the 4th quarter worth $59,809,000. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 buying an additional 546,785 shares during 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 valued at $43,142,000 after buying an additional 285,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Bank OZK during the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,014,000. 86.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on OZK shares. Weiss Ratings raised Bank OZK from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of OZK stock opened at $50.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $50.07 and a 200 day moving average of $48.31. Bank OZK has a 1 year low of $42.37 and a 1 year high of $53.66.

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

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. This is a boost from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is 31.74%.

Bank OZK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, June 29th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.