146,264 Shares in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC Acquired by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 146,264 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,313,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SFNC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,471,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $310,488,000 after acquiring an additional 51,914 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,569,943 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $144,223,000 after purchasing an additional 389,634 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,814,476 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,453,000 after purchasing an additional 70,486 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,508,330 shares of the bank’s stock worth $86,425,000 after purchasing an additional 91,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,558,574 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,090,000 after purchasing an additional 53,994 shares during the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SFNC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Piper Sandler upgraded Simmons First National from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $27.50 in a report on Friday. National Bank Financial set a $26.00 target price on Simmons First National in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Simmons First National from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.21.

Simmons First National Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of Simmons First National stock opened at $23.69 on Friday. Simmons First National Corporation has a 1 year low of $17.00 and a 1 year high of $24.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.36 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.03). Simmons First National had a positive return on equity of 8.32% and a negative net margin of 24.64%.During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. Simmons First National’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Simmons First National Corporation will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.215 per share. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -33.99%.

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.