Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) Shares Purchased by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,992,851 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,519 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.38% of Simmons First National worth $64,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Simmons First National by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,752,000 after purchasing an additional 413,459 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,197,000 after acquiring an additional 65,992 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,677,924 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,498,000 after acquiring an additional 59,495 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 9,443.9% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,395,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 154,128 shares during the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total value of $366,785.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,755,695.14. This represents a 8.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total transaction of $641,342.40. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFNC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens upgraded Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Simmons First National Price Performance

SFNC opened at $22.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.16. Simmons First National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $16.03 and a fifty-two week high of $25.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05 and a beta of 0.86.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.35%.

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.