Southside Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBSI) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Southside Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBSI) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Southside Bancshares in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Stephens cut their price objective on Southside Bancshares from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

Southside Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SBSI opened at $28.58 on Thursday. Southside Bancshares has a 52-week low of $25.30 and a 52-week high of $38.00. The company has a market cap of $868.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.82 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.58 and its 200-day moving average is $31.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Southside Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $100.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.37 million. Southside Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.10% and a net margin of 19.40%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southside Bancshares will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southside Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SBSI. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Southside Bancshares by 867.4% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 919 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 824 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southside Bancshares by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Southside Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,000. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in Southside Bancshares by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,890 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southside Bancshares by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 5,143 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $163,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.70% of the company’s stock.

About Southside Bancshares

Southside Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Southside Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals, businesses, municipal entities, and nonprofit organizations. Its deposit products include savings, money market, and interest and noninterest bearing checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits.