Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases 1,381,353 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 9,443.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,395,980 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,381,353 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $24,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 250,150.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,010 shares of the bank’s stock worth $199,000 after acquiring an additional 10,006 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the 4th quarter worth about $875,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 134,522 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,669,000 after purchasing an additional 54,631 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Simmons First National by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 532,415 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,563,000 after buying an additional 2,415 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In other Simmons First National news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 8,680 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.93, for a total transaction of $190,352.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,428,909.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 21,420 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 8,680 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.93, for a total transaction of $190,352.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,428,909.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,700 shares of company stock valued at $728,952 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Price Performance

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $21.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.14 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50-day moving average of $20.72 and a 200-day moving average of $18.92. Simmons First National Co. has a 52 week low of $13.36 and a 52 week high of $22.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, 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 Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $372.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.30 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.33% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.16%.

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.