Summit Financial Group (NASDAQ:SMMF) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Summit Financial Group (NASDAQ:SMMF) in a report released on Monday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the bank’s stock.

Separately, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Summit Financial Group from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th.

Summit Financial Group Price Performance

Summit Financial Group stock opened at $24.75 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.50. Summit Financial Group has a 12 month low of $17.06 and a 12 month high of $29.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $363.08 million, a PE ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 0.43.

Summit Financial Group (NASDAQ:SMMF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.20). Summit Financial Group had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 14.60%. The business had revenue of $45.74 million during the quarter. Equities analysts predict that Summit Financial Group will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Summit Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. This is a boost from Summit Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Summit Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.57%.

Insider Activity at Summit Financial Group

In other news, Director Jill S. Upson bought 1,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $24.81 per share, for a total transaction of $45,898.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,207 shares in the company, valued at $54,755.67. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 12.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Summit Financial Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Summit Financial Group by 234.2% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Summit Financial Group by 56.0% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,685 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 964 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Summit Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth $63,000. UBS Group AG acquired a new position in Summit Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Summit Financial Group by 112.7% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,109 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,647 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.35% of the company’s stock.

About Summit Financial Group

Summit Financial Group, Inc operates as a financial holding company for Summit Community Bank, Inc that provides community banking and other financial services to individuals and businesses primarily in the Eastern Panhandle, Southern and North Central regions of West Virginia and the Northern, Shenandoah Valley, and Southwestern regions of Virginia, and the Central region of Kentucky.