Financial Comparison: Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) vs. Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB)

Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) and Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.2% of Bank OZK shares are held by institutional investors. 6.7% of Bank OZK shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of Kentucky Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bank OZK and Kentucky Bancshares’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank OZK	$2.25 billion	2.37	$690.78 million	$5.97	7.90
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Bank OZK has higher revenue and earnings than Kentucky Bancshares.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Bank OZK and Kentucky Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank OZK	1	5	2	0	2.13
Kentucky Bancshares	0	0	0	0	N/A

Bank OZK presently has a consensus target price of $49.14, indicating a potential upside of 3.81%. Given Bank OZK’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Bank OZK is more favorable than Kentucky Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Bank OZK and Kentucky Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank OZK	28.54%	14.84%	2.08%
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Bank OZK beats Kentucky Bancshares on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank OZK

Bank OZK provides various retail and commercial banking services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers deposit services, including non-interest bearing checking, interest bearing transaction, business sweep, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other accounts, as well as time and reciprocal deposits. It also provides trust and wealth services, such as personal trusts, custodial accounts, investment management accounts, and retirement accounts, as well as corporate trust services, including trustee, paying agent and registered transfer agent services, and other related services. In addition, the company offers treasury management services comprising automated clearing house, wire transfer, transaction reporting, wholesale lockbox, remote deposit capture, automated credit line transfer, reconciliation, positive pay, commercial card, and other services, as well as zero balance and investment sweep accounts. Further, it provides real estate, consumer, small business, indirect recreational vehicle and marine, equipment, agricultural, commercial and industrial, government guaranteed, lines of credit, homebuilder, and affordable housing loans; lender and structured, business aviation, and subscription financing services; and mortgage and other lending products. Additionally, the company offers ATMs; telephone, online, and mobile banking services; credit and debit cards; safe deposit boxes; and other products and services. The company was formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks and changed its name to Bank OZK in July 2018. Bank OZK was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas.

About Kentucky Bancshares

Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Kentucky Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts; and certificates of deposit, safe deposits, interest and noninterest bearing deposits, and time deposits. The company also offers commercial, agricultural, and real estate loans to small-to-medium-sized industrial, service, and agricultural businesses; and residential mortgages, installments, and other loans to individual and other non-commercial customers. In addition, it provides credit cards and other consumer-oriented financial services; brokerage services, annuities, life and long-term care insurance, personal trust, and agency services; and Internet banking services, such as bill payment. The company has operations in Bourbon, Clark, Elliott, Fayette, Harrison, Jessamine, Madison, Rowan, Scott, Woodford, and other counties in Kentucky. Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Paris, Kentucky.