1492 Capital Management LLC Invests $3.07 Million in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

1492 Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 157,673 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,067,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 10.8% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 24,386 shares of the bank’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 2,385 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Simmons First National during the first quarter worth about $1,249,000. Leeward Investments LLC MA acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the 1st quarter worth about $15,744,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 148.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 34,068 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $643,000 after acquiring an additional 20,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S Harris Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $293,000. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SFNC. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Simmons First National from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Simmons First National from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

Simmons First National Price Performance

NASDAQ SFNC opened at $22.93 on Friday. 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 cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.96 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.43. Simmons First National Corporation has a 52-week low of $17.00 and a 52-week high of $23.12.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. The firm had revenue of $241.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.02 million. Simmons First National had a negative net margin of 25.44% and a positive return on equity of 7.81%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Corporation will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 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 is Monday, June 15th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.