Acadian Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 156,591 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,122 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned about 0.92% of SmartFinancial worth $4,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SMBK. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,091 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 30,767 shares of the bank’s stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 741 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 276,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,592,000 after buying an additional 1,511 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 282.9% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,489 shares of the bank’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,839 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of SmartFinancial in the 1st quarter worth $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

SmartFinancial Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of SMBK opened at $36.88 on Friday. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.31 and a 52 week high of $37.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $627.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.79.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMBK has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Hovde Group upped their target price on SmartFinancial from $37.50 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. 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 research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised SmartFinancial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.