Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,207,448 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 78,705 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 12.13% of Simmons First National worth $301,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFNC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Simmons First National in the fourth quarter valued at $27,751,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 992,678 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,695,000 after buying an additional 349,534 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 131.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 475,239 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,429,000 after buying an additional 270,255 shares during the period. Simmons Bank raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 1,977,793 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,239,000 after buying an additional 175,716 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,041,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SFNC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Stephens cut their price objective on Simmons First National from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Insider Transactions at Simmons First National

In other news, EVP George A. Makris III sold 15,625 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $269,218.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $684,151.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Trading Up 2.9 %

SFNC opened at $17.58 on Friday. Simmons First National Co. has a 12 month low of $13.36 and a 12 month high of $20.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.22 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $17.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.43.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.32. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 11.97%. The firm had revenue of $195.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. Simmons First National’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.16%.

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.