49 Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 23,101 Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

49 Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 23,101 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $498,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in Simmons First National by 3,808.6% in the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 95,839 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,865,000 after buying an additional 93,387 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Simmons First National during the 1st quarter valued at $1,254,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 113,111.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 82,644 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,453,000 after buying an additional 82,571 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the second quarter valued at $479,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 6.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,752,000 after acquiring an additional 413,459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SFNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Stephens raised Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of SFNC opened at $24.20 on Friday. Simmons First National Co. has a 12 month low of $15.72 and a 12 month high of $25.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $22.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73 and a beta of 0.86.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.91 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total transaction of $366,785.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total value of $641,342.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650. 1.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Simmons First National 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.