Barclays PLC Buys 10,055 Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 78.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,848 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 10,055 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.13% of SmartFinancial worth $666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 24,147 shares of the bank’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in SmartFinancial by 22.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 30,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 16.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 183,751 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after buying an additional 26,583 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 5.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 699,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,563,000 after buying an additional 35,054 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 140,274 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SMBK shares. Stephens lowered SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SMBK opened at $31.12 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.59 and its 200 day moving average is $30.33. The firm has a market cap of $526.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.00 and a 52-week high of $37.72.

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

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.49%.

Insider Transactions at SmartFinancial

In other SmartFinancial news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.05, for a total transaction of $242,405.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $138,798. The trade was a 63.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,516 shares of company stock valued at $262,600. Insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

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.