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

by · The Cerbat Gem

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC – Get Free Report)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $84.36 and last traded at $83.2450, with a volume of 13,506 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $81.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GSBC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Great Southern Bancorp from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Great Southern Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $74.00.

Read Our Latest Research Report on GSBC

Great Southern Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $879.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.09 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.47.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $57.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $56.08 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 19.85%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 6.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great Southern Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 28th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 28th. Great Southern Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Julie Brown sold 851 shares of Great Southern Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $68,931.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,212. The trade was a 10.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 29.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Great Southern Bancorp

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 14.9% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Great Southern Bancorp by 2,132.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 3,454 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Great Southern Bancorp by 217.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Great Southern Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $349,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

About Great Southern Bancorp

(Get Free Report)

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc is the bank holding company for Great Southern Bank, a full-service financial institution headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. The company provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions through a network of banking centers and other delivery channels.

Great Southern Bank offers deposit products, residential and commercial real estate lending, construction and development financing, commercial business loans, consumer loans and mortgage services.

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