Franklin Resources Inc. Makes New Investment in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 59,049 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,339,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 13.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,129 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,648 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Simmons First National during the 2nd quarter worth $183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stephens upgraded Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Simmons First National Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of SFNC opened at $22.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Simmons First National Co. has a 12 month low of $16.03 and a 12 month high of $25.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $23.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.33.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The firm had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Simmons First National’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.35%.

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In other news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total transaction of $641,342.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total transaction of $366,785.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650. Corporate 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.