Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) to Buyback $175.00 million in Shares

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 17th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $175.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.43.

Simmons First National Price Performance

SFNC stock opened at $21.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.69 and a beta of 0.93. Simmons First National has a 52 week low of $17.00 and a 52 week high of $22.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $19.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

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

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.