Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) Position Reduced by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its position in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,700 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $1,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SFNC. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Simmons First National during the first quarter valued at about $227,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Simmons First National by 90.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 66,037 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after buying an additional 31,284 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Simmons First National by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 109,560 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after buying an additional 1,479 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 50.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 188,822 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,674,000 after purchasing an additional 63,589 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National in the 1st quarter valued at about $10,723,000. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Simmons First National

In other Simmons First National news, CAO David W. Garner sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $1,377,928.86. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $23.31 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.58. Simmons First National Co. has a 52 week low of $14.57 and a 52 week high of $24.14. The company has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.85 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The firm had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFNC has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Stephens upgraded Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Simmons First National Company 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.