Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Increases Dividend to $0.42 Per Share

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share on Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This is a boost from Bank OZK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Bank OZK has raised its dividend by an average of 9.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 28 years. Bank OZK has a dividend payout ratio of 28.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bank OZK to earn $5.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.5%.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OZK traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.98. 1,419,855 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,138,328. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $46.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.87. The company has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. Bank OZK has a 52 week low of $37.43 and a 52 week high of $51.50.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $423.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $419.08 million. Bank OZK had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 14.15%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 6.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Bank OZK from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Raymond James downgraded Bank OZK from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.33.

Bank OZK Company Profile

Bank OZK provides various retail and commercial banking services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers deposit services, including non-interest bearing checking, interest bearing transaction, business sweep, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other accounts, as well as time and reciprocal deposits.