Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $84.36 and last traded at $83.2450, with a volume of 13,506 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $81.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GSBC. Wall Street Zen downgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 25th. Zacks Research raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Great Southern Bancorp from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $74.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Up 2.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $909.44 million, a P/E ratio of 14.55 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $79.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.29.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Great Southern Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 19.85%. The company had revenue of $57.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.08 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 6.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great Southern Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Julie Brown sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $68,931.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 29.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,624,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,793,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,237,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,412,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,010,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

Great Southern Bancorp Company Profile

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.