Peninsula Asset Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 16,897 Bank OZK $OZK

Peninsula Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 16,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ruffer LLP bought a new position in Bank OZK during the fourth quarter worth $3,137,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,263,000. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Bank OZK by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 531,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,475,000 after purchasing an additional 63,051 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 284,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,371,000 after buying an additional 50,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 285,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,574,000 after buying an additional 51,171 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on OZK shares. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank OZK from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Bank OZK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $53.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.25.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OZK opened at $51.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of 8.36 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $49.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.07. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $42.37 and a fifty-two week high of $53.66.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Bank OZK had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 25.27%.The company had revenue of $424.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $422.62 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Investors of record on Monday, July 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 13th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.27%.

Bank OZK declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, June 29th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Bank OZK

Bank OZK, formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks, is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established in 1903, the bank offers a full suite of banking products and services to both individual and corporate clients. Through a combination of organic growth and targeted acquisitions, Bank OZK has built a diversified lending portfolio and a strong deposit franchise.

The bank’s core operations focus on commercial real estate lending, including acquisition, development and construction financing.