SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Hits New 1-Year High at $29.75

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $29.75 and last traded at $29.45, with a volume of 29772 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.54.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler cut SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.00.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $25.68 and its 200-day moving average is $22.95. The company has a market capitalization of $494.49 million, a P/E ratio of 18.58 and a beta of 0.71.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 6.60%. The business had revenue of $68.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John M. Presley sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.65, for a total transaction of $169,875.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 35,073 shares in the company, valued at $794,403.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SMBK. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in SmartFinancial by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 105,382 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,581,000 after buying an additional 34,488 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in SmartFinancial by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,300 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 2,350 shares during the last quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of SmartFinancial during the 4th quarter valued at $242,000. SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 33,927 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Salzhauer Michael grew its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 5.5% in the first quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 243,467 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,130,000 after acquiring an additional 12,700 shares during the period. 58.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Company 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.