King Luther Capital Management Corp Reduces Stock Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

King Luther Capital Management Corp decreased its position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 56.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,059 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 65,437 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SFNC. 1900 Wealth Management LLC increased 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 valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 2.0% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 35,085 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 686 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 1.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Simmons First National by 161.0% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,843 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137 shares during the period. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Simmons First National by 1.6% in the second quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 73,077 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In other Simmons First National news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 21,420 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total value of $462,243.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,128,128.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 8,680 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.93, for a total value of $190,352.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,428,909.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 21,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.58, for a total value of $462,243.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,128,128.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 33,700 shares of company stock valued at $728,952. 1.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on SFNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 2nd. Stephens upped their target price on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.75.

Simmons First National Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $21.60 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Simmons First National Co. has a one year low of $13.36 and a one year high of $22.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.86.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.02. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.33% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company had revenue of $372.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is 63.16%.

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.