Acadian Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 320.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 54,574 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,602 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned 0.32% of SmartFinancial worth $1,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 789,233 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,629,000 after purchasing an additional 19,490 shares in the last quarter. Salzhauer Michael lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 5.5% in the first quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 243,467 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,130,000 after buying an additional 12,700 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 41.7% in the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,870 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,179,000 after buying an additional 44,407 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 23.7% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 130,361 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,747,000 after buying an additional 24,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 96,021 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,273,000 after buying an additional 3,810 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SMBK shares. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.00.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

SmartFinancial stock opened at $29.39 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $497.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $27.51 and its 200 day moving average is $23.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.00 and a 52-week high of $29.75.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 6.55%. The business had revenue of $68.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.51%.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.