Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 124,562 Shares of Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 17,016.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,294 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 124,562 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp owned approximately 0.09% of Simmons First National worth $2,437,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Simmons First National by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,471,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $310,488,000 after buying an additional 51,914 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Simmons First National by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,569,943 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $144,223,000 after buying an additional 389,634 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Simmons First National by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,814,476 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,453,000 after acquiring an additional 70,486 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Simmons First National by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,508,330 shares of the bank’s stock worth $86,425,000 after acquiring an additional 91,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,558,574 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,090,000 after acquiring an additional 53,994 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

SFNC stock opened at $22.84 on Wednesday. Simmons First National Corporation has a one year low of $17.00 and a one year high of $23.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.03 and a beta of 0.90.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.03). Simmons First National had a negative net margin of 24.64% and a positive return on equity of 8.32%. The business had revenue of $248.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Simmons First National Corporation will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.215 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is currently -33.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SFNC. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research cut Simmons First National from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Simmons First National from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on Simmons First National from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.50.

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.