Share Buyback Plan Initiated by Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK)

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, June 29th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on OZK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. UBS Group started coverage on Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank OZK from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings raised Bank OZK from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank OZK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank OZK presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.33.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

Shares of Bank OZK stock traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $51.63. 831,205 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,054,538. Bank OZK has a 12 month low of $42.37 and a 12 month high of $53.66. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.84. The company has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.41 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Bank OZK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 13th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 13th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Bank OZK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.