Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Raised to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

OZK has been the topic of several other research reports. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Bank OZK in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen decreased 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, July 24th. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Monday, August 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.57.

Bank OZK Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Bank OZK stock opened at $46.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of 7.70 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $49.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.83. Bank OZK has a 1 year low of $42.37 and a 1 year high of $53.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $430.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.42 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 24.95%.Bank OZK’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank OZK announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, June 29th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,809,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Bank OZK during the second quarter worth approximately $63,410,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Bank OZK by 41.7% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 929,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,673,000 after purchasing an additional 273,543 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new position in Bank OZK in the 2nd quarter valued at $14,038,000. Finally, Ranger Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Bank OZK in the 2nd quarter valued at $13,240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

About Bank OZK

Bank OZK is a regional financial institution headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. The company provides banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions through a network of banking offices concentrated in the Southeastern United States and select markets, including New York and California.

Its products and services include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, commercial and industrial financing, treasury management and other business banking solutions.