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

Arkansas Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 13,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $605,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank OZK during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Bank OZK during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank OZK by 303.9% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 929 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Bank OZK by 601.0% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank OZK in the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.18% of the company’s stock.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OZK traded up $0.42 on Thursday, reaching $39.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 622,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,257,496. Bank OZK has a 52-week low of $34.76 and a 52-week high of $52.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $43.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.20.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued 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. Bank OZK had a net margin of 28.54% and a return on equity of 14.84%. The business had revenue of $406.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 6.1 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. Bank OZK’s payout ratio is 26.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OZK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup cut shares of Bank OZK from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $57.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Bank OZK from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

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.