Jane Street Group LLC Acquires 47,820 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 43.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 158,099 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,820 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC owned 0.13% of Simmons First National worth $3,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Simmons First National by 6.0% in the second 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 stake in shares of Simmons First National by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,197,000 after buying an additional 65,992 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 3.7% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,677,924 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,498,000 after buying an additional 59,495 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Simmons First National by 9,443.9% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,395,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Simmons First National by 28.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of 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 upped their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Simmons First National Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of SFNC opened at $22.13 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.70 and a beta of 0.86. Simmons First National Co. has a 52 week low of $16.03 and a 52 week high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $203.20 million for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is presently 82.35%.

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In other Simmons First National news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total transaction of $366,785.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at $3,755,695.14. This represents a 8.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO David W. Garner sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.25, for a total transaction of $128,522.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,391.50. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 45,800 shares of company stock worth $1,136,650. Corporate insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

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.