Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Makes New $724,000 Investment in SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 20,267 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $724,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL owned 0.12% of SmartFinancial at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in SmartFinancial by 11.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 647,512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,136,000 after acquiring an additional 64,810 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in SmartFinancial in the third quarter valued at about $1,614,000. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its stake in SmartFinancial by 83.4% in the third quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 84,570 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,022,000 after buying an additional 38,466 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 134.9% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 63,519 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,270,000 after buying an additional 36,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new position in SmartFinancial during the third quarter worth about $1,143,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on SMBK shares. Hovde Group raised SmartFinancial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of SmartFinancial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.50.

SmartFinancial Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:SMBK opened at $39.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.75. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.31 and a fifty-two week high of $43.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $667.47 million, a PE ratio of 18.24 and a beta of 0.77.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. SmartFinancial’s payout ratio is currently 10.74%.

SmartFinancial announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to buy up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn bought 835 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $43.13 per share, with a total value of $36,013.55. Following the purchase, the chairman owned 96,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,160,664.84. This trade represents a 0.87% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 7.62% of the company’s stock.

About SmartFinancial

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.