Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Raises Stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,677,924 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 59,495 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 1.34% of Simmons First National worth $29,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 161.0% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,843 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 2,045.5% in the 2nd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,888 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 250,150.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,010 shares of the bank’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 10,006 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Simmons First National in the 1st quarter valued at about $227,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Simmons First National in the 1st quarter valued at about $252,000. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens boosted their price objective on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.75.

Simmons First National Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of SFNC opened at $21.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $20.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.86. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 0.87. Simmons First National Co. has a twelve month low of $13.36 and a twelve month high of $22.45.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $372.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.30 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 5.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 21,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total value of $462,243.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at $13,128,128.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Simmons First National news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 21,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total value of $462,243.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,128,128.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO David W. Garner sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total value of $76,356.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,377,928.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,700 shares of company stock worth $728,952. Insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National 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.