Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBCFree Report) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also commented on GSBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Great Southern Bancorp from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.00.

View Our Latest Report on Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Performance

GSBC opened at $73.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $801.83 million, a PE ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Great Southern Bancorp has a 1 year low of $53.76 and a 1 year high of $76.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.30.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBCGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $55.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.75 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 21.33%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Great Southern Bancorp will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Great Southern Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Great Southern Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John M. Bugh sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.59, for a total transaction of $168,975.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 1,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120,986.10. This trade represents a 58.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Mark A. Maples sold 2,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.95, for a total value of $164,583.65. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,843.65. This represents a 66.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,687 shares of company stock worth $938,407. 29.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 9.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,618,000 after buying an additional 24,131 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 130,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,057,000 after buying an additional 27,487 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 177.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 48,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 30,863 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 47,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 8,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 47,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,009,000 after purchasing an additional 2,764 shares during the last quarter. 41.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Great Southern Bancorp

(Get Free Report)

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: GSBC) is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Through its subsidiary, the company provides a broad spectrum of financial products and services designed to meet the needs of individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and professional clients across its regional footprint.

Great Southern Bank’s core business activities include deposit-taking, lending and treasury management.

Further Reading

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