Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.00.

A number of research firms recently commented on SFNC. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Simmons First National from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Friday, April 17th. Zacks Research cut Simmons First National from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Stephens lifted their price target on Simmons First National from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Simmons First National

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 137.6% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 45,329 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $882,000 after buying an additional 26,250 shares in the last quarter. Carlson Capital L.P. raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 191.2% in the first quarter. Carlson Capital L.P. now owns 78,624 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after buying an additional 51,624 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 24.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 624,613 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,149,000 after buying an additional 123,732 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 16.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 23,866 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 3,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 31.9% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,339 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Simmons First National Trading Up 1.2%

Simmons First National stock opened at $22.17 on Tuesday. Simmons First National has a 52 week low of $17.00 and a 52 week high of $22.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.66 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.33.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.47 EPS 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 business had revenue of $241.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.02 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Simmons First National’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Simmons First National will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.215 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -33.59%.

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.