Sterne Agee Neutral On Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK)

Sterne Agee has a Neutral rating on shares of Bank of the Ozarks OZRK. In a note to clients, Sterne Agee writes, "On April 29th, OZRK nailed down two more FDIC-assisted deals for Park Avenue Bank and First Choice Community Bank, which represented its largest and third largest deals to date. Management indicated that both deals will be immediately accretive to EPS and TBVPS. On a pro forma basis, OZRK's balance sheet will grow by $700 million, or 22%, adjusted for our estimation of fair value marks, and EPS should improve by $0.20 annually, based on our modeling. The two banks will bolster OZRK's previous footprint by 18 branches to 30 in GA, and by 1 branch to four locations in FL. There was no overlap with OZRK's pre-deal footprint." Shares of OZRK are up $1.61 in early Monday trading to $46.14, a gain of 3.6%.