Bank Of The Ozarks Announces Two-for-one Stock Split

On the heels of closing on its eleventh acquisition in the last four years, Bank of the Ozarks announced a two-for-one stock split on Monday (May 19).

The Little Rock-based bank said its board of directors declared the stock split on its common stock payable in the form of a 100% stock dividend.

“This declaration reflects our board’s confidence in our ability to drive long-term value to our shareholders and recognizes our company’s strong market performance and continued growth prospects,” said CEO George Gleason. “The decision to declare a two-for-one stock split will allow us to maintain a market price for our stock that is affordable and accessible to a wider range of investors and to increase our overall shareholder base and liquidity in our stock.”

The two-for-one stock split is expected to be paid on or about June 23, 2014 to shareholders of record as of June 13, 2014.

Stock certificates representing the additional shares will be distributed by the company’s transfer agent, Bank of the Ozarks Trust and Wealth Management Division, and the per share price of the company’s common stock will adjust accordingly on the NASDAQ Global Select Market for trading beginning on or about June 24, 2014.

Shares of Bank of the Ozarks (NASDAQ: OZRK) closed trading Monday at $57.72.

Bank of the Ozarks currently has approximately 39,829,271 shares of common stock outstanding, which includes shares issued in connection with the company’s recent acquisition of Summit Bancorp, Inc. After the stock split, the current number of shares of common stock outstanding will increase to approximately 79,658,542 shares.

This is the fourth two-for-one stock split of the company’s common stock since its initial public offering in July 1997. The previous splits occurred in June 2002, December 2003, and August 2011.