Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 17,266 Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its position in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK – Get Rating) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,370 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 17,266 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.42% of SmartFinancial worth $1,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in SmartFinancial by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Private Capital Management LLC now owns 602,045 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,545,000 after purchasing an additional 5,862 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 490,413 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,119,000 after acquiring an additional 18,676 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 254,954 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,300,000 after acquiring an additional 8,777 shares in the last quarter. Salzhauer Michael grew its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 225,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,194,000 after acquiring an additional 3,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 153,044 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,698,000 after acquiring an additional 9,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SMBK shares. Janney Montgomery Scott cut SmartFinancial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Piper Sandler cut SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. StockNews.com started coverage on SmartFinancial in a report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on SmartFinancial in a report on Friday, March 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.14.

Insider Activity

In other SmartFinancial news, CEO William Young Jr. Carroll purchased 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.34 per share, for a total transaction of $29,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 113,472 shares in the company, valued at $2,194,548.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director David Austin Ogle acquired 2,554 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.48 per share, for a total transaction of $49,751.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 188,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,672,856.60. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO William Young Jr. Carroll acquired 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.34 per share, with a total value of $29,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 113,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,194,548.48. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 11,079 shares of company stock worth $220,214. Corporate insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

SmartFinancial Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ SMBK opened at $21.80 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.86 and a 1-year high of $30.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.98 and a 200-day moving average of $25.79. The company has a market cap of $370.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96 and a beta of 0.74.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.08. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 22.39% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The company had revenue of $42.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.08 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 12th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. SmartFinancial’s payout ratio is 11.68%.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

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SmartFinancial, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial banking services through SmartBank. It operates through the following portfolio segments: Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, and Consumer and Other.