HTLF Bank Invests $305,000 in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Bank OZK by 10.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,791,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,144 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Bank OZK by 0.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,557,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,079,000 after acquiring an additional 55,553 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank OZK by 1,508.4% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,313,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,237,000 after purchasing an additional 4,045,472 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bank OZK by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,994,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,018,000 after buying an additional 35,215 shares during the period. Finally, Van Berkom & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Bank OZK by 18.1% in the third quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,031,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,308,000 after buying an additional 311,293 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Bank OZK stock opened at $44.94 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.15. Bank OZK has a 12 month low of $30.72 and a 12 month 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 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 7.53 and a beta of 1.27.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $396.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 3.47%. This is an increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is 26.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on OZK. Citigroup lowered their target price on Bank OZK from $62.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Bank OZK from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James raised shares of Bank OZK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 5th. UBS Group cut shares of Bank OZK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Bank OZK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.14.

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.