Quick Read
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Bank OZK yields 4.40% with a lean 30.7% payout ratio, while Norwood Financial yields 3.74% near its 52-week high, and both go ex-dividend by Oct. 15.
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OZK's elevated yield comes with a catch. Shares have dropped 11% over the past year as earnings growth stalled.
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Elbit Systems also goes ex-dividend Oct. 13 with a $1.00 payment, but its 0.61% yield disqualifies it from any income-focused strategy.
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Two bank dividends have deadlines within days. Bank OZK( NASDAQ:OZK ) goes ex-dividend on Tuesday, October 13, so today and Monday are the only two trading sessions left to buy in for its $0.49 quarterly payment. Norwood Financial( NASDAQ:NWFL ) follows on Thursday, October 15. Both pass a payout-ratio test. One of them owes part of its yield to a falling share price.
How the deadline works:to collect a dividend, you must own the shares before the ex-dividend date. If you buy on the ex-date or later, the seller keeps the payment. Trades now settle in one business day, so a purchase on the last trading day before the ex-date settles in time. The pay date is simply the day the cash comes.
Bank OZK (OZK): Monday, October 12 Is the Last Day to Buy
Bank OZK's $0.49 dividend has an ex-date and record date of October 13. The payment date is October 20. Given $44.53, the annualized forward dividend of $1.96 works out to a 4.40% yield. This payment is up from $0.48 last quarter and $0.38 in January 2024, part of a run of quarter-after-quarter increases.
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Earnings per share is the correct base for coverage at a bank. Trailing dividends of $1.86 against trailing EPS of $6.06 produce a payout ratio of 30.7%. The latest quarter tells the same story: the $1.49 in June-quarter EPS, which beat the $1.46 estimate, sets the new payment at 32.9% of earnings. Loan and deposit flows make bank cash flow statements noisy, so operating cash flow serves as a cross-check. That check also holds up: June-quarter operating cash flow of $204.95 million compared with $55.51 million in common dividends, or about 27.1%.
The share price is where things look wobblier. OZK fell 9.6% over the past month and 11.12% over the past year, which drives the yield higher. The selloff tracks earnings that have stopped rising: June-quarter EPS of $1.49 was below the $1.58 from a year earlier. The payout ratio leaves plenty of room. The open question is whether the bank can keep raising the dividend every quarter while profits stay flat.
Norwood Financial (NWFL): Wednesday, October 14 Is the Cutoff
Norwood Financial, a Honesdale, Pennsylvania lender, declared a $0.32 quarterly dividend with an ex-date and record date of October 15 and a payment date of November 2. The last day to buy is Wednesday, October 14. With the stock near $34.20, the indicated annual dividend of $1.28 yields 3.74%. That yield is above average but smaller than OZK's.
Coverage measured against EPS is comfortable. Trailing dividends of $1.27 against trailing EPS of $2.89 give a payout ratio of 43.9%. The current $0.32 payment matches 37.2% of June-quarter EPS of $0.86. A falling price has not inflated this yield. Shares trade near their 52-week high of $35.48, well above the low of $23.07.
The weak spot is earnings consistency. Norwood has missed expectations three quarters in a row: $0.86 versus $0.87, $0.72 versus $0.81, and $0.84 versus $0.85. It also posted a loss of $1.54 per share in the December 2024 quarter, a reminder that small-bank earnings can swing hard in a single quarter. The dividend is covered today, but there is less margin than at OZK.
Ex-Dividend Deadlines at a Glance
| Stock |
Dividend |
Ex-Date |
Last Day to Buy |
Pay Date |
Yield |
Payout Ratio (TTM EPS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank OZK |
$0.49 |
Oct. 13 |
Oct. 12 |
Oct. 20 |
4.40% |
30.7% |
| Norwood Financial |
$0.32 |
Oct. 15 |
Oct. 14 |
Nov. 2 |
3.74% |
43.9% |
Before You Buy for One Payment
Buying a stock to collect a single dividend does not work as a strategy on its own. On the ex-date, prices usually drop by about the dividend amount, so the payment largely sets off that drop. These two names deserve attention because their payouts take up less than half of earnings. Once the ex-date comes, that quarter's payout goes to whoever held the shares the day before.
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