Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $8.74 Million Stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 405,824 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 20,166 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.32% of Simmons First National worth $8,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Simmons First National by 6.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,752,000 after buying an additional 413,459 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 59,495 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position 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. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Simmons First National by 28.0% in the second quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 705,138 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,396,000 after purchasing an additional 154,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Simmons First National by 4.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,325 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,922,000 after buying an additional 27,479 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SFNC shares. StockNews.com raised Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens upgraded shares of Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simmons First National currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Simmons First National Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $24.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Simmons First National Co. has a 1-year low of $15.72 and a 1-year high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Simmons First National news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total transaction of $366,785.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at $3,755,695.14. This represents a 8.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,336,427.87. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650. 1.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.