Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 82,055 Shares of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Bank of Nova Scotia trimmed its stake in Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) by 66.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,979 shares of the company’s stock after selling 82,055 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Bank OZK were worth $1,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Bank OZK by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 7,102,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149,880 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,945,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,162,000 after purchasing an additional 686,775 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,811,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,190,000 after purchasing an additional 314,488 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank OZK by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,038,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,798,000 after purchasing an additional 15,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Bank OZK by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,786,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,537,000 after acquiring an additional 87,299 shares during the last quarter. 86.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on OZK shares. Stephens reduced their price objective on Bank OZK from $59.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bank OZK from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Bank OZK from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Bank OZK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.88.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of OZK opened at $47.95 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.52. The stock has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 0.86. Bank OZK has a 52 week low of $35.71 and a 52 week high of $53.64.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $428.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $423.41 million. Bank OZK had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 25.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Bank OZK will post 6.02 EPS for the current year.

Bank OZK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

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.