What Makes Bank OZK (OZK) a Strong Position in Wasatch Core Growth Fund’s Portfolio?
Wasatch Global Investors, an investment management firm, released its “Wasatch Core Growth Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. The same can be downloaded here. The market witnessed an escalation of the trend in which the robust operating results of high-quality companies were mirrored in the stock prices during the fourth quarter of 2023. In the fourth quarter, the fund’s Investor Class increased 17.15% outperforming the benchmark Russell 2000 Growth Index, which rose 12.75%, while the broader Russell 2000 Index increased 14.03%. During the year the fund appreciated 33.43% well ahead of the indexes’ returns of 18.66% and 16.93%. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Wasatch Core Growth Fund featured stocks like Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) is a banking company that offers retail and commercial banking services. On March 14, 2024, Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) stock closed at $42.15 per share. One-month return of Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) was -1.17%, and its shares gained 18.27% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) has a market capitalization of $4.765 billion.
Wasatch Core Growth Fund stated the following regarding Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
"Another strong position in the Fund was Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK). Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bank OZK is a traditional full-service bank that also underwrites large real-estate development projects across the U.S. Early in the year, the failures of three regional banks in the U.S. and the government-brokered sale of troubled Swiss firm Credit Suisse Group AG dragged down bank stocks generally. As the year progressed, investors remained worried that the Fed would continue to raise interest rates—and precipitate a recession and more credit defaults, which would clearly hurt most banks. Even though Bank OZK announced strong earnings, the stock remained below its February high for most of the year. Then, in November, the stock began a dramatic rise based on dovish comments from the Fed, which eased worries about credit defaults and interest-rate spreads. We like Bank OZK, in particular, because its strong management team follows a responsible banking model with a diversified customer base and appropriate levels of loans and deposits. In addition, its real-estate arm maintains high debt-to-equity levels on the projects it finances."
An iconic skyline of a major city, the towering buildings display the strength of the company's regional banking success.
Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) was held by 27 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 24 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) in another article and shared ClearBridge Small Cap Value Strategy's views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
