JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Stock Position in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,008,857 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 166,211 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $19,340,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 27.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 88,632 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 18,933 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 271.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 158,856 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 116,072 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 73,861 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Simmons First National by 3,624.6% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 12,686 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Simmons First National by 1,288.2% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 18,046 shares of the bank’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,746 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Simmons First National Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Simmons First National stock opened at $20.36 on Tuesday. Simmons First National Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.00 and a fifty-two week high of $22.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.35 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $20.16 and a 200 day moving average of $19.48.

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

Simmons First National declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $175.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.215 dividend. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is currently -30.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SFNC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upgraded Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.43.

Simmons First National Company 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.