SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartFinancial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 19,490 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in SmartFinancial by 320.7% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 54,574 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 41,602 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC grew its position in SmartFinancial by 23.9% during the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 184,555 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,378,000 after acquiring an additional 35,565 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in SmartFinancial by 16.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 183,751 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after acquiring an additional 26,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its position in SmartFinancial by 5,760.9% during the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 66,990 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,586,000 after acquiring an additional 65,847 shares during the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

NASDAQ SMBK opened at $36.21 on Thursday. SmartFinancial has a 52 week low of $19.00 and a 52 week high of $37.72. The company has a market cap of $612.81 million, a PE ratio of 18.66 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.33.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The firm had revenue of $73.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that SmartFinancial will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.49%.

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.