Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Sunday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Great Southern Bancorp from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Price Performance

GSBC opened at $80.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $882.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 0.50. Great Southern Bancorp has a twelve month low of $53.76 and a twelve month high of $82.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.66.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Great Southern Bancorp had a net margin of 19.85% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm had revenue of $57.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.08 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Great Southern Bancorp will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Great Southern Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 28th were paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 28th. Great Southern Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 30.02%.

Insider Transactions at Great Southern Bancorp

In other Great Southern Bancorp news, Director Julie Brown sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $68,931.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,212. This represents a 10.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 29.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSBC. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 2,132.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 3,454 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Great Southern Bancorp by 217.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Great Southern Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $349,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in Great Southern Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $229,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Great Southern Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $564,000. Institutional investors own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service financial institution headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. The company provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions through a network of banking centers and other delivery channels.

Great Southern Bank offers deposit products, residential and commercial real estate lending, construction and development financing, commercial business loans, consumer loans and mortgage services.