Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 153,764 Shares of Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 551,806 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 153,764 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.38% of Simmons First National worth $10,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in Simmons First National by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 50,763 shares of the bank’s stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 5,367 shares during the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC acquired a new position in Simmons First National during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,329,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 43.8% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 151,857 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,911,000 after buying an additional 46,273 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Simmons First National during the third quarter worth $240,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National in the 3rd quarter valued at $214,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Zacks Research upgraded Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Simmons First National currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.43.

Simmons First National Trading Down 0.7%

SFNC stock opened at $19.11 on Thursday. Simmons First National Corporation has a 52-week low of $17.00 and a 52-week high of $22.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.90 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.46.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. Simmons First National had a positive return on equity of 6.73% and a negative net margin of 27.83%.The company had revenue of $249.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.68 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Simmons First National’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 17th that allows the company to buyback $175.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.215 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is currently -30.69%.

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.