American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stake in Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. $GSBC

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) by 8.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 247,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,718 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Great Southern Bancorp were worth $14,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GSBC. CWM LLC grew its position in Great Southern Bancorp by 150.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 24.6% during the 1st quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 4,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 179.1% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 4,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Great Southern Bancorp by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 11,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $639,000 after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Great Southern Bancorp news, VP John M. Bugh sold 1,750 shares of Great Southern Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.72, for a total value of $101,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 1,790 shares in the company, valued at $103,318.80. The trade was a 49.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Mark A. Maples sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.93, for a total transaction of $86,898.50. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 27.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GSBC shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Great Southern Bancorp in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Great Southern Bancorp from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Great Southern Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Great Southern Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

Great Southern Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GSBC opened at $62.28 on Thursday. 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 $696.91 million, a PE ratio of 10.35 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.36. Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.57 and a 1-year high of $66.98.

Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $58.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.72 million. Great Southern Bancorp had a net margin of 19.80% and a return on equity of 11.28%. On average, equities analysts expect that Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Great Southern Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 29th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 29th. This is an increase from Great Southern Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Great Southern Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

Great Southern Bancorp Profile

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for Great Southern Bank that provides a range of financial services in the United States. Its deposit products include regular savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, certificates of deposit, brokered certificates, and individual retirement accounts.