Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $82.91 and last traded at $82.00, with a volume of 60737 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.31.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GSBC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Great Southern Bancorp from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Trading Up 1.7%

The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $889.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.56 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.73.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.19. Great Southern Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.86% and a net margin of 20.72%.The business had revenue of $56.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.26 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Great Southern Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Great Southern Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great Southern Bancorp

In other Great Southern Bancorp news, VP Kevin L. Baker sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total transaction of $195,888.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 14 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $979.44. This represents a 99.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 29.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $867,000. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 130,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,057,000 after purchasing an additional 27,487 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,072,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 101.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 8,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $488,000. Institutional investors own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

Great Southern Bancorp Company Profile

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.