Citigroup Inc. Sells 55,169 Shares of Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Citigroup Inc. decreased its position in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 137,314 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 55,169 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.09% of Simmons First National worth $2,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 27.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 88,632 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after buying an additional 18,933 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Simmons First National by 271.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 158,856 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 116,072 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Simmons First National by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 73,861 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,516,000 after acquiring an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Simmons First National by 3,624.6% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 12,686 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 1,288.2% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 18,046 shares of the bank’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Trading Down 2.9%

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $19.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.49. Simmons First National Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.00 and a fifty-two week high of $22.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of -7.02 and a beta of 0.91.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $249.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.68 million. Simmons First National had a negative net margin of 27.83% and a positive return on equity of 6.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Simmons First National Corporation 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 will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.215 dividend. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is -30.69%.

Simmons First National declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $175.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to purchase up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. National Bank Financial set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Simmons First National in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Simmons First National from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Simmons First National presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.43.

About Simmons First National

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Through its primary operating subsidiary, Simmons Bank, the company maintains a network of more than 200 branches across Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Simmons First National offers a full suite of financial services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients, emphasizing relationship-driven community banking.

The company’s core business activities span deposit-taking, lending and payment services.