Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Raises Dividend to $0.40 Per Share

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, July 1st, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 12th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share on Friday, July 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 12th. This is a boost from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Bank OZK has increased its dividend payment by an average of 9.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 28 consecutive years. Bank OZK has a dividend payout ratio of 24.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bank OZK to earn $6.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.6%.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Shares of Bank OZK stock traded down $0.17 on Wednesday, hitting $41.08. The company had a trading volume of 103,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,271,993. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.55. 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 company has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.20. Bank OZK has a 52 week low of $34.76 and a 52 week high of $52.36.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup cut shares of Bank OZK from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $57.00 to $37.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Two research 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.