Arkansas Financial Group Inc. Invests $605,000 in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Arkansas Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $605,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,788,000. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,252,000. Pinebridge Investments L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 77.3% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 188,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,397,000 after acquiring an additional 82,233 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the 4th quarter valued at about $56,293,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank OZK in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,624,000. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on OZK. Citigroup lowered Bank OZK from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $57.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Bank OZK from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Bank OZK from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

Bank OZK Stock Up 1.1 %

OZK traded up $0.42 during trading on Thursday, hitting $39.59. 622,350 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,257,496. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Bank OZK has a 12-month low of $34.76 and a 12-month high of $52.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.20.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $406.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.81 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 14.84% and a net margin of 28.54%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. Analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.13%.

About Bank OZK

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.