StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Summit Financial Group (NASDAQ:SMMF)

Equities research analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Summit Financial Group (NASDAQ:SMMF) in a research note issued to investors on Monday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the bank’s stock.

Summit Financial Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SMMF opened at $25.12 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $26.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $368.86 million, a PE ratio of 6.58 and a beta of 0.38. Summit Financial Group has a 12 month low of $17.06 and a 12 month high of $31.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Summit Financial Group (NASDAQ:SMMF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.01. Summit Financial Group had a net margin of 20.97% and a return on equity of 13.99%. The business had revenue of $72.32 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Summit Financial Group will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SMMF. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Summit Financial Group by 77.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 663,348 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,358,000 after purchasing an additional 288,487 shares in the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Summit Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,804,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Summit Financial Group by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 811,093 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,757,000 after purchasing an additional 72,478 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Summit Financial Group by 740.1% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 58,594 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 51,619 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. purchased a new stake in Summit Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $830,000. 35.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.