Carlson Capital L.P. Makes New Investment in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Carlson Capital L.P. bought a new position in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 20,900 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000. Simmons First National accounts for approximately 0.3% of Carlson Capital L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SFNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Simmons First National by 33.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 676,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,565,000 after purchasing an additional 170,821 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Simmons First National by 131.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 247,821 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,337,000 after purchasing an additional 140,738 shares in the last quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC boosted its position in Simmons First National by 231.6% during the third quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC now owns 137,352 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,959,000 after purchasing an additional 95,928 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Simmons First National by 3.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,197,000 after purchasing an additional 65,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in Simmons First National during the third quarter worth $1,339,000. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stephens reduced their price objective on Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Simmons First National Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $21.52 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Simmons First National Co. has a 52-week low of $16.03 and a 52-week high of $25.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.79 and a beta of 0.86.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 10.46%. The business had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.2125 dividend. This is a positive change from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.25%.

Simmons First National Company 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.