Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Boosts Stake in Bank OZK $OZK

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 1,769.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 193,679 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 183,321 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $8,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the third quarter worth about $27,000. BOKF NA purchased a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 100.5% in the fourth quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 766 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Bank OZK in the third quarter worth about $51,000. 86.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on OZK shares. Piper Sandler set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Bank OZK in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $56.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.89.

Bank OZK Price Performance

Bank OZK stock opened at $48.17 on Friday. Bank OZK has a 12-month low of $42.37 and a 12-month high of $53.66. The stock has a market cap of $5.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Bank OZK had a net margin of 25.27% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $424.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $422.62 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. Bank OZK’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank OZK Announces Dividend

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

About Bank OZK

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.