Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Increases Dividend to $0.43 Per Share

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 1st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share on Monday, April 21st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This is a 2.4% increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Bank OZK has increased its dividend by an average of 11.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 29 years. Bank OZK has a payout ratio of 26.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bank OZK to earn $6.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.5%.

Bank OZK Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Bank OZK stock opened at $37.97 on Friday. Bank OZK has a 1 year low of $35.71 and a 1 year high of $53.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $45.58 and its 200 day moving average is $45.90. 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 market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 1.05.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $412.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $407.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on OZK. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Bank OZK from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stephens upped 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 note on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank OZK has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.38.

Bank OZK Company Profile

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.