SG Americas Securities LLC Purchases 30,769 Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 801.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,607 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,769 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC owned about 0.20% of SmartFinancial worth $1,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 3.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 846,978 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,263,000 after buying an additional 26,373 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 1.9% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 836,529 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,889,000 after buying an additional 15,730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 11.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 647,512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,136,000 after buying an additional 64,810 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 5.9% during the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 135,113 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,828,000 after buying an additional 7,580 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 7.9% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 94,461 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,375,000 after buying an additional 6,940 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at SmartFinancial

In other news, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn purchased 835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $43.13 per share, for a total transaction of $36,013.55. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman directly owned 96,468 shares in the company, valued at $4,160,664.84. This represents a 0.87% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 7.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

Shares of SMBK opened at $40.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $693.92 million, a PE ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.31 and a fifty-two week high of $43.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.85.

SmartFinancial announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, January 30th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SMBK shares. Zacks Research cut shares of SmartFinancial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of SmartFinancial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, operating through its primary subsidiary, SmartBank. Incorporated in 2006, the company provides a full suite of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses and public entities across its regional footprint. SmartFinancial’s network of branch offices and digital platforms combines community-banking relationships with modern technology to serve its customers’ evolving needs.

Through SmartBank, the company offers a broad range of deposit products, including checking, savings and certificate of deposit accounts, alongside consumer and commercial lending solutions.