Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.42 Per Share

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share on Tuesday, January 21st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This is a positive change from Bank OZK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Bank OZK has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 28 years. Bank OZK has a payout ratio of 28.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Bank OZK to earn $5.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.5%.

Bank OZK Stock Performance

OZK stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.98. 1,417,714 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,137,257. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.18. Bank OZK has a 12 month low of $37.43 and a 12 month high of $51.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.02. Bank OZK had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The company had revenue of $423.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $419.08 million. On average, analysts forecast that Bank OZK will post 6.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Bank OZK from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Bank OZK from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Bank OZK from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Raymond James downgraded shares of Bank OZK from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Bank OZK in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.33.

About Bank OZK

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.