Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in Bank OZK $OZK

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 222,873 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,155 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $10,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of OZK. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 37.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 41,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,792,000 after purchasing an additional 11,310 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 14.0% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 46,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 5,717 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 1.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 60,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 8.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 349,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,197,000 after purchasing an additional 26,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 11.0% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 17,711 shares of the company’s stock worth $770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,756 shares in the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on OZK. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bank OZK from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.89.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

OZK opened at $48.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $46.80 and a 200 day moving average of $46.96. Bank OZK has a fifty-two week low of $42.37 and a fifty-two week high of $53.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Bank OZK Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Monday, April 13th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 13th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.62%.

Bank OZK Company Profile

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.