LPL Financial LLC Has $717,000 Stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,345 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,007 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $717,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Simmons First National from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Simmons First National from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday.

Simmons First National Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $17.93 on Wednesday. Simmons First National Co. has a 52-week low of $16.03 and a 52-week high of $25.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $20.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 0.82.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $209.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.00 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.2125 dividend. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is presently 73.28%.

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.