Park National (NYSE:PRK) Shares Gap Up After Dividend Announcement

Shares of Park National Co. (NYSE:PRK) gapped up before the market opened on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $128.01, but opened at $131.88. Park National shares last traded at $131.27, with a volume of 9,074 shares traded.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Park National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PRK shares. Piper Sandler started coverage on Park National in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Park National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday.

Park National Trading Up 1.1 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $129.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.68. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Park National (NYSE:PRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $140.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.14 million. Park National had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 22.03%. Analysts expect that Park National Co. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Park National

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Park National by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,701,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,009,000 after buying an additional 12,925 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Park National by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 457,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,818,000 after buying an additional 10,266 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Park National by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 163,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,727,000 after buying an additional 6,724 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Park National by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 55,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,412,000 after buying an additional 17,271 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Park National by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 54,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,124,000 after buying an additional 2,579 shares during the period. 62.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Park National

Park National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Park National Bank that provides commercial banking and trust services in small and medium population areas. The company offers deposits for demand, savings, and time accounts; trust and wealth management services; cash management services; safe deposit operations; electronic funds transfers; Internet and mobile banking solutions with bill pay service; credit cards; and various additional banking-related services.