Insider Buying: SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Director Buys $126,360.00 in Stock

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Director Cathy Ackermann bought 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $42.12 per share, for a total transaction of $126,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,281.72. The trade was a 17.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK opened at $42.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $723.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.63. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.95 and a 52 week high of $43.90.

SmartFinancial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from SmartFinancial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. SmartFinancial’s payout ratio is currently 11.54%.

Institutional Trading of SmartFinancial

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMBK. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in SmartFinancial by 375.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 152,167 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,629,000 after purchasing an additional 120,167 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in SmartFinancial by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 728,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,934,000 after purchasing an additional 80,639 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in SmartFinancial by 55.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 163,240 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,038,000 after purchasing an additional 58,560 shares during the period. Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new stake in SmartFinancial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,158,000. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its stake in SmartFinancial by 59.5% during the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 134,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,989,000 after purchasing an additional 50,301 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SMBK. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on SmartFinancial from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered SmartFinancial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.88.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, operating through its primary subsidiary, SmartBank. Incorporated in 2006, the company provides a full suite of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses and public entities across its regional footprint. SmartFinancial’s network of branch offices and digital platforms combines community-banking relationships with modern technology to serve its customers’ evolving needs.

Through SmartBank, the company offers a broad range of deposit products, including checking, savings and certificate of deposit accounts, alongside consumer and commercial lending solutions.