Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Invests $226,000 in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,770 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SMBK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 789,233 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,629,000 after purchasing an additional 19,490 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 96,021 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 24,147 shares of the bank’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 30,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 320.7% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 54,574 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 41,602 shares during the period. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK opened at $35.12 on Wednesday. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.00 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $594.58 million, a PE ratio of 18.10 and a beta of 0.68.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.88%. The firm had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SmartFinancial

In other SmartFinancial news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.05, for a total transaction of $242,405.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,960 shares in the company, valued at $138,798. This trade represents a 63.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 7,586 shares of company stock worth $264,600 in the last 90 days. 7.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SMBK shares. Stephens lowered SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James increased their target price on SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group increased their target price on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

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.