Wellington Management Group LLP Grows Holdings in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,591,542 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 245,024 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 4.56% of Simmons First National worth $149,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 17,016.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 125,294 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,437,000 after buying an additional 124,562 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings 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 worth $12,149,000 after buying an additional 123,732 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,558,574 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,090,000 after buying an additional 53,994 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 213.2% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 206,793 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,022,000 after acquiring an additional 140,769 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 period. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFNC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Friday, July 17th. National Bank Financial set a $25.00 target price on Simmons First National in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Simmons First National from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.50.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

NASDAQ SFNC opened at $22.58 on Tuesday. Simmons First National Corporation has a 52-week low of $17.00 and a 52-week high of $24.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.14 and a 200-day moving average of $21.55. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.92 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.03). Simmons First National had a negative net margin of 24.64% and a positive return on equity of 8.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. Simmons First National’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Simmons First National Corporation will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.215 per share. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -33.99%.

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.