American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 276,458 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,511 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 1.62% of SmartFinancial worth $8,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in SmartFinancial by 269.7% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,538 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 19,400.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,145 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 282.9% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,489 shares of the bank’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 1,839 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SmartFinancial during the fourth quarter worth about $104,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SmartFinancial during the fourth quarter worth about $124,000. Institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

NASDAQ SMBK opened at $36.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.31 and a 1-year high of $37.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $629.37 million, a PE ratio of 17.28 and a beta of 0.76.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.03. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 7.33% and a net margin of 12.67%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on SMBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on SmartFinancial from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $37.50 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.25.

SmartFinancial Profile

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.