Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBC) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $78.73 and last traded at $78.4840, with a volume of 9046 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $77.72.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMBC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price (up from $71.00) on shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Southern Missouri Bancorp from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Southern Missouri Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern Missouri Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.33.

Southern Missouri Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $859.50 million, a P/E ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $72.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.11.

Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $51.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.14 million. Southern Missouri Bancorp had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 12.72%. Equities analysts expect that Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. will post 6.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Missouri Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This is a positive change from Southern Missouri Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Southern Missouri Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 16.69%.

Insider Activity at Southern Missouri Bancorp

In other Southern Missouri Bancorp news, EVP Richard Windes sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total transaction of $139,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $374,637.50. The trade was a 27.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 15.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Southern Missouri Bancorp by 2.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 440,839 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $28,187,000 after purchasing an additional 11,946 shares during the period. FJ Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 300,944 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,818,000 after purchasing an additional 18,002 shares during the period. Clayton Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $16,579,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 275,909 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $16,312,000 after buying an additional 62,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 86.5% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 100,724 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,294,000 after buying an additional 46,730 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.49% of the company’s stock.

About Southern Missouri Bancorp

Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: SMBC) is a bank holding company headquartered in West Plains, Missouri, serving as the parent of Southern Bank. The company focuses on delivering community banking services to individual and commercial customers across southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. It operates branch offices in local markets and provides a comprehensive suite of deposit and lending products tailored to both urban and rural communities.

Through its subsidiary, Southern Bank, the company offers deposit products such as checking and savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside digital and mobile banking platforms.