Centiva Capital LP Takes $354,000 Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,435 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $354,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SFNC. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 9,443.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,395,980 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,353 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 valued at $128,752,000 after acquiring an additional 413,459 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC grew its stake in Simmons First National by 104.6% during the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 376,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,610,000 after acquiring an additional 192,200 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $12,396,000 after acquiring an additional 154,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in Simmons First National by 113,111.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 82,644 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 82,571 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total value of $366,785.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO David W. Garner sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.25, for a total transaction of $128,522.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,640,391.50. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650. Corporate insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on SFNC shares. Stephens raised shares of Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Simmons First National Price Performance

SFNC stock opened at $24.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Simmons First National Co. has a one year low of $16.03 and a one year high of $25.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.80.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 8.94% and a return on equity of 5.15%. The business had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

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

About Simmons First National

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.