Retirement Investment Advisors Inc. Takes $352,000 Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Retirement Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 20,000 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFNC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 6.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,752,000 after purchasing an additional 413,459 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in Simmons First National in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,495,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Simmons First National in the 4th quarter valued at $27,751,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 992,678 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,695,000 after buying an additional 349,534 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 28.0% during the second quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 705,138 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,396,000 after acquiring an additional 154,128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David W. Garner sold 3,600 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total transaction of $76,356.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 64,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,377,928.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO David W. Garner sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total transaction of $76,356.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares in the company, valued at $1,377,928.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 21,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total transaction of $462,243.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,128,128.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,700 shares of company stock worth $728,952 over the last ninety days. 1.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $22.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.85. Simmons First National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.36 and a fifty-two week high of $22.45. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $372.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.30 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 5.33%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is 63.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on SFNC. StockNews.com cut Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.75.

Simmons First National Profile

Simmons First National Corporation operates as the holding company for Simmons Bank that provides banking and other financial products and services to individuals and businesses. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposits; consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; agricultural finance, equipment, and small business administration lending; trust and fiduciary services; credit cards; investment management products; treasury management; insurance products; and securities and investment services.