State Street Corp Purchases 10,623 Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

State Street Corp grew its holdings in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 336,147 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,623 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 1.99% of SmartFinancial worth $9,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SMBK. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 96,021 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in SmartFinancial by 1.5% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 24,147 shares of the bank’s stock worth $572,000 after buying an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in SmartFinancial by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 30,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 320.7% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 54,574 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after buying an additional 41,602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 183,751 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,349,000 after acquiring an additional 26,583 shares in the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Hovde Group lifted their target price on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens downgraded shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

SMBK stock opened at $31.58 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $534.52 million, a PE ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 0.68. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a one year low of $19.00 and a one year high of $37.72.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $73.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.32 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SmartFinancial

In other news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.05, for a total transaction of $242,405.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $138,798. This trade represents a 63.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,516 shares of company stock valued at $262,600. 7.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

SmartFinancial Profile

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.