Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.00.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Simmons First National from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Zacks Research lowered Simmons First National from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Stephens raised their price objective on Simmons First National from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th.

Simmons First National Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of SFNC stock opened at $22.00 on Tuesday. Simmons First National has a 52-week low of $17.00 and a 52-week high of $22.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of -8.59 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.21.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Simmons First National had a positive return on equity of 7.81% and a negative net margin of 25.44%.The business had revenue of $241.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.02 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. Simmons First National’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Simmons First National will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.215 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -33.59%.

Simmons First National declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 17th that permits the company to buyback $175.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 5.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Simmons First National by 27.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 88,632 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 18,933 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Simmons First National by 271.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 158,856 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 116,072 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Simmons First National by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 73,861 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,516,000 after acquiring an additional 3,221 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Simmons First National by 3,624.6% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 12,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Simmons First National by 1,288.2% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 18,046 shares of the bank’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 16,746 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

About Simmons First National

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Through its primary operating subsidiary, Simmons Bank, the company maintains a network of more than 200 branches across Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Simmons First National offers a full suite of financial services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients, emphasizing relationship-driven community banking.

The company’s core business activities span deposit-taking, lending and payment services.