Covestor Ltd Decreases Stock Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Covestor Ltd lessened its position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 39.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,154 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,017 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SFNC. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 8.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 358,314 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,077,000 after acquiring an additional 26,724 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 17,235 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 3,927 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,590 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 978.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 13,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 12,088 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens cut their target price on Simmons First National from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simmons First National news, EVP George A. Makris III sold 15,625 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $269,218.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $684,151.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.91% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Simmons First National Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $21.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 15.86 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $17.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.36. Simmons First National Co. has a 12-month low of $13.36 and a 12-month high of $21.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. The firm had revenue of $195.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.35 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 11.97%. Simmons First National’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.16%.

About Simmons First National

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.