Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $13.92 Million Holdings in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 4.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 646,325 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,479 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.51% of Simmons First National worth $13,922,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SFNC. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in Simmons First National in the 1st quarter worth $31,495,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 9,443.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,395,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,353 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 6.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,752,000 after purchasing an additional 413,459 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 104.6% during the 2nd quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 376,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,610,000 after purchasing an additional 192,200 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 28.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 705,138 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,396,000 after buying an additional 154,128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $24.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01 and a beta of 0.86. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.04. Simmons First National Co. has a one year low of $15.72 and a one year high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on SFNC. StockNews.com raised Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens upgraded shares of Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simmons First National news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total transaction of $641,342.40. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO David W. Garner sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,377,928.86. The trade was a 5.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,130 shares of company stock worth $846,221 over the last three months. 1.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Simmons First National Company 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.