SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Receives $29.50 Consensus PT from Analysts

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

SMBK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of SmartFinancial in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartFinancial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in SmartFinancial by 429.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,688 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 19,210 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 7.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 59,437 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after acquiring an additional 4,375 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 130,361 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 24,979 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC grew its position in SmartFinancial by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,870 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,179,000 after acquiring an additional 44,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in SmartFinancial by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 789,233 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,629,000 after acquiring an additional 19,490 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

Shares of SmartFinancial stock opened at $36.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $615.21 million, a PE ratio of 18.83 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.68. SmartFinancial has a fifty-two week low of $19.00 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 6.90%. The business had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Analysts expect that SmartFinancial will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.49%.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.