9,526 Shares in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) Acquired by LMR Partners LLP

LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,526 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SFNC. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Simmons First National by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 173,229 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 25,316 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 26.6% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 45,647 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $888,000 after buying an additional 9,585 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in Simmons First National by 5.3% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 113,329 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,201,000 after acquiring an additional 5,666 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the first quarter worth $31,495,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Simmons First National by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 75,988 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,479,000 after buying an additional 4,642 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In other news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total value of $641,342.40. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO David W. Garner sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total value of $76,356.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,377,928.86. This represents a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,130 shares of company stock worth $846,221 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Trading Up 0.2 %

Simmons First National stock opened at $24.11 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.17. Simmons First National Co. has a 52-week low of $15.72 and a 52-week high of $25.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.64 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.91 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is currently 82.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SFNC. Stephens upgraded shares of Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

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.