Versor Investments LP Buys Shares of 44,200 Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 44,200 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $952,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Simmons First National by 13.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,129 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Simmons First National by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 48,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $860,000 after buying an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Simmons First National by 2.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 35,085 shares of the bank’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 1.8% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 63,100 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Simmons First National by 161.0% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,843 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on SFNC. StockNews.com upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David W. Garner sold 3,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total transaction of $76,356.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 64,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,377,928.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $24.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $22.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.87. The company has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Simmons First National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.59 and a fifty-two week high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04. Simmons First National had a net margin of 8.94% and a return on equity of 5.15%. The company had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. Simmons First National’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is 82.35%.

About Simmons First National

Simmons First National Corporation operates as the holding company for Simmons Bank that provides banking and other financial products and services to individuals and businesses. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposits; consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; agricultural finance, equipment, and small business administration lending; trust and fiduciary services; credit cards; investment management products; treasury management; insurance products; and securities and investment services.