Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Reduces Stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 195,166 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,110 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $4,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Simmons First National by 168.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,091 shares of the bank’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted 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 worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Simmons First National during the 4th quarter valued at about $212,000. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Simmons First National Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of SFNC opened at $20.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.62 and a 200 day moving average of $22.48. Simmons First National Co. has a 1-year low of $16.03 and a 1-year high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.67 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 10.46%. Simmons First National’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.2125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. This is a positive change from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.