AlphaQuest LLC Makes New $273,000 Investment in Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBC)

AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,765 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 147.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,957 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,082,000 after purchasing an additional 53,670 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Southern Missouri Bancorp by 90.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 25,273 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,427,000 after acquiring an additional 11,996 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Southern Missouri Bancorp by 249.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 25,080 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after acquiring an additional 17,895 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 42.4% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,071 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 217,753 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,304,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113 shares during the period. 49.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Missouri Bancorp Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SMBC opened at $53.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.89. Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.00 and a 52 week high of $68.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $605.57 million, a PE ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 0.99.

Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The savings and loans company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.07. Southern Missouri Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.45% and a net margin of 17.72%. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Missouri Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. Southern Missouri Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Douglas Bagby sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.08, for a total transaction of $413,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,240,680. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 16.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on SMBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Southern Missouri Bancorp from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

About Southern Missouri Bancorp

Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Southern Bank that provides banking and financial services to individuals and corporate customers in the United States. The company offers deposits products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, saving accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement savings plans, and money market deposit accounts.