Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.43 Per Share

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 1st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share on Monday, April 21st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. This is a 2.4% increase from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Bank OZK has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 29 years. Bank OZK has a dividend payout ratio of 25.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bank OZK to earn $6.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.9%.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

OZK traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,365,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,269,240. The business has a 50-day moving average of $48.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. 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 $4.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.23.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $407.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank OZK will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Bank OZK from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Bank OZK from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Bank OZK in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on Bank OZK from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.38.

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.