Brokerages Set Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) Price Target at $22.43

Shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.4286.

SFNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. National Bank Financial set a $21.00 price target on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Monday, December 29th. 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

SFNC stock opened at $21.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of -7.71 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.36. Simmons First National has a 1-year low of $17.00 and a 1-year high of $23.05.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $249.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm’s revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Simmons First National will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Simmons First National

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Simmons First National during the third quarter worth $129,282,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 12.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,419,609 shares of the bank’s stock worth $314,764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,763,161 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 97.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,469,594 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,702,000 after acquiring an additional 725,489 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the 3rd quarter worth about $13,177,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Simmons First National by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,595,939 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,083,000 after acquiring an additional 587,082 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

About Simmons First National

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.