Bank of Montreal Can Invests $290,000 in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 15,793 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 1,489.3% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 596,830 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,295,000 after buying an additional 559,277 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the 2nd quarter worth $1,228,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the 2nd quarter worth $1,237,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 40,449 shares of the bank’s stock worth $698,000 after buying an additional 4,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 21,908 shares of the bank’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In other news, Director Robert L. Shoptaw acquired 10,000 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $143,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 77,724 shares in the company, valued at $1,114,562.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Robert L. Shoptaw purchased 10,000 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction on Monday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $143,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 77,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,562.16. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Stephen C. Massanelli purchased 2,000 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction on Friday, October 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $14.15 per share, with a total value of $28,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 80,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,143,730.35. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SFNC shares. TheStreet cut Simmons First National from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. Stephens decreased their target price on Simmons First National from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Simmons First National in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $16.43 on Tuesday. Simmons First National Co. has a 52-week low of $13.36 and a 52-week high of $23.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.17.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.05. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 17.63%. The business had revenue of $196.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $200.20 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.87%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is 43.48%.

Simmons First National Profile

Simmons First National Corporation operates as the holding company for Simmons Bank that provides banking and other financial products and services to individuals and businesses. It offers checking, savings, and time deposits; consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; agricultural finance, equipment, and small business administration lending; trust and fiduciary services; credit cards; investment management products; treasury management; insurance products; and securities and investment services.