Intech Investment Management LLC Invests $677,000 in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 31,417 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SFNC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,752,000 after acquiring an additional 413,459 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in Simmons First National by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,677,924 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,498,000 after purchasing an additional 59,495 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Simmons First National by 9,443.9% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,395,980 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,353 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 27,479 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total transaction of $366,785.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total value of $641,342.40. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,336,427.87. This trade represents a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 45,800 shares of company stock worth $1,136,650. 1.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SFNC shares. Stephens upgraded Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Simmons First National presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Simmons First National Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $24.46 on Friday. Simmons First National Co. has a 1 year low of $15.85 and a 1 year high of $25.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.52.

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

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

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

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.