SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Upgraded by Piper Sandler to Overweight

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) was upgraded by research analysts at Piper Sandler from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $26.00 price target on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price target of $25.00. Piper Sandler’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 26.40% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SMBK. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of SmartFinancial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SmartFinancial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.80.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

NASDAQ SMBK opened at $20.57 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.94. The company has a market cap of $350.92 million, a P/E ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 0.69. SmartFinancial has a 1 year low of $18.86 and a 1 year high of $25.98.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $65.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.14 million. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.94% and a net margin of 10.65%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SmartFinancial will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at SmartFinancial

In other news, EVP Gary Wayne Petty, Jr. sold 2,394 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.63, for a total transaction of $51,782.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $412,938.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SmartFinancial

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 44.9% during the 4th quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 106,463 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,607,000 after purchasing an additional 32,968 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 105,382 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,581,000 after purchasing an additional 34,488 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new position in SmartFinancial during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,872,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in SmartFinancial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $758,000. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 54.2% during the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 33,427 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 11,750 shares during the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.