Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) Board of Directors Approves Share Buyback Plan

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 17th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $175.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 5.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Simmons First National Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Simmons First National stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $21.29. 807,000 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,281,453. Simmons First National has a twelve month low of $17.00 and a twelve month high of $22.76. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of -7.69 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.39.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on SFNC shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Simmons First National from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler upgraded Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Robert W. Baird raised Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Zacks Research upgraded Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.