Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC Shares Bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 19.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,008,857 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 166,211 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $19,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Simmons First National by 27.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 88,632 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,820,000 after acquiring an additional 18,933 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 271.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 158,856 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 116,072 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Simmons First National by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 73,861 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 3,624.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 12,686 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 1,288.2% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 18,046 shares of the bank’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,746 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on SFNC shares. 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. National Bank Financial set a $21.00 target price on shares of Simmons First National in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Raymond James Financial raised Simmons First National from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Simmons First National from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simmons First National currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.43.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of SFNC opened at $19.34 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Simmons First National Corporation has a 52-week low of $17.00 and a 52-week high of $22.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of -6.98 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Simmons First National declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.215 per share. This is a positive change from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is presently -31.05%.

About Simmons First National

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.