SmartFinancial’s (SMBK) Strong-Buy Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reiterated their strong-buy rating on shares of SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $42.00 price target on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price target of $36.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stephens cut SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.70.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

NASDAQ SMBK opened at $35.53 on Thursday. SmartFinancial has a fifty-two week low of $19.00 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $601.44 million, a P/E ratio of 16.60 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.79. 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Insider Activity at SmartFinancial

In other news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,798. This trade represents a 63.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 7,516 shares of company stock valued at $262,600 over the last 90 days. 7.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of SmartFinancial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 35,054 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in SmartFinancial by 69.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 340,418 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,920,000 after buying an additional 139,009 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 3.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 336,147 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,795,000 after acquiring an additional 10,623 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 335,501 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,779,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 200,565 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,747,000 after purchasing an additional 4,412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.78% 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.