Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

GSBC has been the subject of several other reports. 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 note on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Great Southern Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Down 0.7%

GSBC stock opened at $77.51 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $844.86 million, a P/E ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.50. Great Southern Bancorp has a one year low of $53.76 and a one year high of $82.91.

Great Southern Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 28th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Great Southern Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Julie Brown sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $68,931.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $571,212. This represents a 10.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 29.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $60,624,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $8,793,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $4,237,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $3,412,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $2,010,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

Great Southern Bancorp Company Profile

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service financial institution headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. Through its banking subsidiary, the company provides deposit accounts, lending products and other financial services to individuals, families, businesses and commercial real estate customers.

Great Southern Bank offers checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer loans, residential real estate loans, commercial and industrial financing, commercial real estate loans, construction loans and agricultural lending.