Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Free Report) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 287,016 shares of the company's stock after selling 22,335 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 0.25% of Bank OZK worth $12,781,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Bank OZK by 7.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,106,907 shares of the company's stock worth $305,526,000 after acquiring an additional 485,172 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 32.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,223,452 shares of the company's stock worth $181,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,198 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 2.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,941,431 shares of the company's stock worth $169,442,000 after purchasing an additional 112,648 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 6.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,022,979 shares of the company's stock worth $86,989,000 after purchasing an additional 126,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 124.6% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,698,856 shares of the company's stock worth $73,034,000 after purchasing an additional 942,309 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on OZK. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Bank OZK from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank OZK presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $50.00.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

NASDAQ OZK traded down $1.95 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.45. The company had a trading volume of 1,115,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,380,437. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. Bank OZK has a 1-year low of $37.43 and a 1-year high of $53.64. The company has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 7.73 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.78 and a 200-day moving average of $45.43.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.12. Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.83% and a return on equity of 13.90%. The company had revenue of $412.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $407.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. Bank OZK's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bank OZK will post 6.03 EPS for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a boost from Bank OZK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 14th. Bank OZK's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.36%.

Bank OZK 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.