Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Has $21.55 Million Stock Position in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 325.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,143,055 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 874,513 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $21,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,471,523 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $310,488,000 after acquiring an additional 51,914 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 2.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,630,535 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $146,279,000 after acquiring an additional 169,768 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,569,943 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $144,223,000 after acquiring an additional 389,634 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the third quarter valued at about $129,282,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,508,330 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $86,425,000 after acquiring an additional 91,596 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFNC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens boosted their price target on Simmons First National from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Simmons First National from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Zacks Research downgraded Simmons First National from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings raised Simmons First National from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Simmons First National Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $22.51 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $21.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.17. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of -8.79 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Simmons First National Corporation has a twelve month low of $17.00 and a twelve month high of $22.62.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Simmons First National had a positive return on equity of 7.81% and a negative net margin of 25.44%.The firm had revenue of $241.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.02 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Simmons First National Corporation will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.215 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -33.59%.

Simmons First National announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 17th that permits the company to repurchase $175.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 5.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.