288,400 Shares in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC Purchased by Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC

Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 288,400 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $5,529,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFNC. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 197.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 42.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,175 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 649 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 32.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,658 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 644 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 68.4% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,938 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 2,412 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Simmons First National Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ SFNC opened at $18.61 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.43. Simmons First National Corporation has a one year low of $17.00 and a one year high of $22.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of -6.72 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $249.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $175.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 5.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.215 dividend. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. This is a boost from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is -31.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on SFNC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, National Bank Financial set a $21.00 price target on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.43.

Simmons First National 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.