Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC Shares Acquired by Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 138.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 65,230 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,883 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $1,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SFNC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler raised Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Simmons First National from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.43.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $19.44 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.48. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Simmons First National Corporation has a 12 month low of $17.00 and a 12 month high of $22.17.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. Simmons First National had a negative net margin of 27.83% and a positive return on equity of 6.73%. The firm had revenue of $249.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.68 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.215 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is -30.69%.

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

Simmons First National Company Profile

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.