Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

by · The Markets Daily

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC – Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $82.40 and last traded at $79.18, with a volume of 91478 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GSBC shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Great Southern Bancorp from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Great Southern Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. One equities 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on GSBC

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $865.12 million, a P/E ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $72.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.53. 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 – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $55.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.75 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 21.33%. On average, research analysts predict that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great Southern Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Great Southern Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.26%.

Insider Activity

In other Great Southern Bancorp news, VP Mark A. Maples sold 2,387 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.95, for a total transaction of $164,583.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,843.65. This trade represents a 66.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Joseph W. Turner sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.16, for a total transaction of $408,960.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 13,687 shares of company stock worth $938,407 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 29.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Great Southern Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GSBC. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 26.6% during the 4th 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. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in Great Southern Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $1,072,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in 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 valued at $16,618,000 after buying an additional 24,131 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in 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 worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 8,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Great Southern Bancorp by 7.6% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 8,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. 41.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Great Southern Bancorp Company Profile

(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.

Read More