M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Purchases New Shares in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 40,066 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $889,000. Simmons First National accounts for about 1.0% of M.E. Allison & CO. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,752,000 after purchasing an additional 413,459 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,992,851 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,478,000 after acquiring an additional 37,519 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,197,000 after acquiring an additional 65,992 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,677,924 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,498,000 after acquiring an additional 59,495 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 9,443.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,395,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381,353 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of SFNC opened at $22.72 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.93. Simmons First National Co. has a 12-month low of $16.03 and a 12-month high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.91 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is 82.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Simmons First National news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total value of $641,342.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total value of $366,785.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,755,695.14. The trade was a 8.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,800 shares of company stock worth $1,136,650 in the last quarter. 1.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SFNC has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stephens upgraded Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Simmons First National Profile

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.