Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Given New $74.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) had its price target raised by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $72.00 to $74.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective suggests a potential downside of 7.63% from the stock’s current price.

GSBC has been the subject of several other reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research downgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Price Performance

GSBC opened at $80.11 on Friday. Great Southern Bancorp has a 52-week low of $53.76 and a 52-week high of $82.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.39. The company has a market cap of $872.40 million, a P/E ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $56.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.26 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a net margin of 20.72% and a return on equity of 10.86%. On average, analysts expect that Great Southern Bancorp will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Great Southern Bancorp

In other Great Southern Bancorp news, CEO Joseph W. Turner sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.16, for a total transaction of $408,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 136,182 shares in the company, valued at $9,282,165.12. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Mark A. Maples sold 2,387 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.95, for a total value of $164,583.65. Following the transaction, 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 13,687 shares of company stock valued at $938,407 over the last ninety days. 29.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GSBC. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in 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 worth $8,057,000 after purchasing an additional 27,487 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 177.7% during the third 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 period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 20.5% during the fourth 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 period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 47,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,009,000 after buying an additional 2,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 42,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,590,000 after buying an additional 7,208 shares during the last quarter. 41.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Great Southern Bancorp

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.