Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Sells 12,151 Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd trimmed its position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 61.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,485 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 12,151 shares during the period. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd’s holdings in SmartFinancial were worth $267,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in SmartFinancial in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 46.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in SmartFinancial by 173.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,895 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in SmartFinancial by 24.3% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,243 shares of the bank’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in SmartFinancial by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,160 shares of the bank’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of SmartFinancial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. 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 research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on SmartFinancial from $37.00 to $39.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on SmartFinancial from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK opened at $41.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $703.44 million, a PE ratio of 19.30 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.31 and a twelve month high of $43.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.11.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.74%.

SmartFinancial announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to buy up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other SmartFinancial news, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn bought 835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $43.13 per share, with a total value of $36,013.55. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman directly owned 96,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,160,664.84. This trade represents a 0.87% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Steven B. Tucker sold 10,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.01, for a total value of $403,856.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 49,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,231.14. This trade represents a 17.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 7.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

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.