Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $79.76 and last traded at $78.30, with a volume of 18595 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $78.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GSBC shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Great Southern Bancorp from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Great Southern Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.34. The firm has a market cap of $883.83 million, a PE ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $55.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.75 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 21.33%. On average, research analysts forecast that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great Southern Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 29th. Great Southern Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.26%.

Insider Transactions at Great Southern Bancorp

In other news, VP Mark A. Maples sold 2,387 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.95, for a total transaction of $164,583.65. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,843.65. This represents a 66.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Kevin L. Baker sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $195,888.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 14 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $979.44. This represents a 99.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,687 shares of company stock worth $938,407. 29.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 130,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,057,000 after buying an additional 27,487 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $1,072,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Great Southern Bancorp by 9.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,618,000 after acquiring an additional 24,131 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Great Southern Bancorp by 101.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,008,000 after acquiring an additional 8,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Great Southern Bancorp by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

Great Southern Bancorp Company Profile

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: GSBC) is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Through its subsidiary, the company provides a broad spectrum of financial products and services designed to meet the needs of individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and professional clients across its regional footprint.

Great Southern Bank’s core business activities include deposit-taking, lending and treasury management.