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

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $72.75 and last traded at $71.32, with a volume of 113238 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $70.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Great Southern Bancorp from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Great Southern Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $65.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Up 0.5%

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’s 50-day moving average is $66.48 and its 200-day moving average is $63.60. The company has a market cap of $776.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.50.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $55.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.75 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great Southern Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 30th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 30th. Great Southern Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 27.26%.

Insider Activity at Great Southern Bancorp

In related news, VP Kevin L. Baker sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total transaction of $195,888.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 14 shares in the company, valued at $979.44. The trade was a 99.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Joseph W. Turner sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.16, for a total transaction of $408,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 136,182 shares in the company, valued at $9,282,165.12. The trade was a 4.22% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 13,687 shares of company stock worth $938,407 over the last quarter. 29.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,072,000. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 130,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,057,000 after buying an additional 27,487 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 9.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,618,000 after buying an additional 24,131 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 101.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 8,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 4,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.