Simmons First National Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.21 (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 23rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the bank on Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th.

Simmons First National has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Simmons First National has a payout ratio of 55.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Simmons First National to earn $1.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.3%.

Simmons First National Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ SFNC opened at $20.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29 and a beta of 0.87. Simmons First National has a one year low of $13.36 and a one year high of $22.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average is $20.16 and its 200-day moving average is $18.76.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.02. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.33% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business had revenue of $372.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Simmons First National will post 1.32 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simmons First National news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 21,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total value of $462,243.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,128,128.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Simmons First National news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 8,680 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.93, for a total value of $190,352.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at $3,428,909.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 21,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total value of $462,243.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,128,128.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,700 shares of company stock valued at $728,952 over the last quarter. 1.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SFNC shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 2nd. Stephens boosted their price objective on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.75.

Simmons First National Company Profile

Simmons First National Corporation operates as the holding company for Simmons Bank that provides banking and other financial products and services to individuals and businesses. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposits; consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; agricultural finance, equipment, and small business administration lending; trust and fiduciary services; credit cards; investment management products; treasury management; insurance products; and securities and investment services.