Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC Shares Acquired by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,419,609 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,763,161 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Simmons First National worth $314,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SFNC. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in Simmons First National by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,737,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,858,000 after acquiring an additional 254,067 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 0.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,072,538 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,261,000 after acquiring an additional 9,956 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Simmons First National by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,731,794 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,835,000 after purchasing an additional 212,988 shares in the last quarter. Simmons Bank raised its stake in Simmons First National by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 1,338,287 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,655,000 after purchasing an additional 10,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Simmons First National by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,008,857 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,340,000 after purchasing an additional 166,211 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of SFNC stock opened at $19.91 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $20.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.19 and a beta of 0.93. Simmons First National Corporation has a 12 month low of $17.00 and a 12 month high of $22.34.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $249.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.68 million. Simmons First National had a positive return on equity of 6.73% and a negative net margin of 27.83%.Simmons First National’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 17th that permits the company to repurchase $175.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to buy up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.215 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is presently -30.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on SFNC. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler raised shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Simmons First National presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.43.

Simmons First National Profile

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Through its primary operating subsidiary, Simmons Bank, the company maintains a network of more than 200 branches across Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Simmons First National offers a full suite of financial services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients, emphasizing relationship-driven community banking.

The company’s core business activities span deposit-taking, lending and payment services.