Bank Of The Ozarks Cheers Investors With 2.6% Dividend Hike
Zacks Investment Research | Apr 02, 2018 09:29PM ET
Bank of the Ozarks’ (NASDAQ:OZRK) board of directors recently approved a 2.6% hike in the quarterly common stock dividend. The revised quarterly dividend now comes in at 19.5 cents per share compared with the previous figure of 19 cents. The dividend will be paid on Apr 20 to shareholders of record as of Apr 13.
This is the 31st consecutive quarterly increase in dividend by the bank, reflecting its commitment to returning value to shareholders. Prior to this hike, the company increased its dividend by 2.7% (from 18.5 cents to 19 cents per share) in January 2018.
Given a solid capital and liquidity position, the company is expected to continue enhancing shareholder value through efficient capital deployment activities.
As of Dec 31, 2017, Bank of the Ozarks had total assets of $21.28 billion, while shareholders’ equity was $3.46 billion. Moreover, its investment securities were valued at $2.62 billion as of the same date.
Based on yesterday’s closing price of $46.96 per share, the dividend yield currently stands at 1.66%.
While, consistent growth in loans and deposits along with benefits from lower tax rates are expected to aid the company’s profitability, persistently rising expenses due to the company’s expansion strategy through de novo branching remains a concern and might hurt bottom-line growth in the quarters ahead. Moreover, margin pressure, despite higher interest rates, makes us apprehensive.
In fact, the company’s price performance also does not seem very impressive. Its shares have lost 3.1% so far this year as against 0.7% growth of its Zacks Investment Research
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