Verition Fund Management LLC Purchases Shares of 11,021 Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 11,021 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the bank’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,129 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 48,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 35,085 shares of the bank’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total value of $641,342.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total transaction of $366,785.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,800 shares of company stock worth $1,136,650 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens raised shares of Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Simmons First National Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of SFNC stock opened at $23.77 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Simmons First National Co. has a 1 year low of $16.03 and a 1 year high of $25.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.30 and a beta of 0.86.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.91 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 8.94% and a return on equity of 5.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.35%.

Simmons First National Company 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. The company 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.