SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Given New $23.00 Price Target at Hovde Group

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) had its target price dropped by equities research analysts at Hovde Group from $26.00 to $23.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s stock. Hovde Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 11.81% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on SMBK. Piper Sandler raised shares of SmartFinancial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of SmartFinancial in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of SmartFinancial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.80.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

NASDAQ SMBK opened at $20.57 on Wednesday. SmartFinancial has a 52-week low of $18.86 and a 52-week high of $25.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $350.92 million, a P/E ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day moving average of $20.83 and a 200-day moving average of $21.94.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $65.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.14 million. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.94% and a net margin of 10.65%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SmartFinancial will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at SmartFinancial

In other SmartFinancial news, EVP Gary Wayne Petty, Jr. sold 2,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.63, for a total value of $51,782.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,091 shares in the company, valued at $412,938.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 7.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMBK. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in SmartFinancial during the third quarter valued at approximately $159,000. Bailard Inc. bought a new position in SmartFinancial during the third quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in SmartFinancial during the third quarter valued at approximately $758,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 68.0% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 7,430 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 2.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 31,747 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.