SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Shares Cross Below 50 Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) crossed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.99 and traded as low as $38.11. SmartFinancial shares last traded at $38.3570, with a volume of 58,192 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of SmartFinancial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Hovde Group raised SmartFinancial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.50.

SmartFinancial Stock Down 1.0%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $39.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.71. The firm has a market cap of $653.29 million, a P/E ratio of 17.86 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is 10.74%.

SmartFinancial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, January 30th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SmartFinancial news, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn bought 835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $43.13 per share, with a total value of $36,013.55. Following the purchase, the chairman directly owned 96,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,160,664.84. The trade was a 0.87% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 7.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartFinancial

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in SmartFinancial by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,860 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.3% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,481 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 24.3% in the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,243 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 46.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in SmartFinancial by 5.2% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 11,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, operating through its primary subsidiary, SmartBank. Incorporated in 2006, the company provides a full suite of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses and public entities across its regional footprint. SmartFinancial’s network of branch offices and digital platforms combines community-banking relationships with modern technology to serve its customers’ evolving needs.

Through SmartBank, the company offers a broad range of deposit products, including checking, savings and certificate of deposit accounts, alongside consumer and commercial lending solutions.