SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 801.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,607 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 30,769 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in SmartFinancial were worth $1,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 150.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 51,972 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 31,255 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 4.3% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,481 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 263.2% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 42,385 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 30,715 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 11.1% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 46,565 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 4,639 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 46.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK opened at $40.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $39.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $693.92 million, a PE ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 0.76. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.31 and a 1 year high of $43.90.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is 10.74%.

SmartFinancial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, January 30th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SMBK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of SmartFinancial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of SmartFinancial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn acquired 835 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $43.13 per share, with a total value of $36,013.55. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman directly owned 96,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,160,664.84. This trade represents a 0.87% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, operating through its primary subsidiary, SmartBank. Incorporated in 2006, the company provides a full suite of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses and public entities across its regional footprint. SmartFinancial’s network of branch offices and digital platforms combines community-banking relationships with modern technology to serve its customers’ evolving needs.

Through SmartBank, the company offers a broad range of deposit products, including checking, savings and certificate of deposit accounts, alongside consumer and commercial lending solutions.