Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) Rating Increased to Neutral at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $21.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their prior target price of $20.00.

Separately, Stephens dropped their price objective on Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Simmons First National Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $17.41 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $20.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Simmons First National has a 12-month low of $16.03 and a 12-month high of $25.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39 and a beta of 0.82.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.10). Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. The firm had revenue of $209.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Simmons First National will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.2125 dividend. This is a positive change from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.88%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SFNC. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Simmons First National by 131.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 247,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,337,000 after purchasing an additional 140,738 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Simmons First National in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,339,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,325 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,922,000 after buying an additional 27,479 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Simmons First National by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 676,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,565,000 after buying an additional 170,821 shares during the period. Finally, M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the fourth quarter worth approximately $889,000. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

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.