Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $917,000 in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 29,586 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $917,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned approximately 0.17% of SmartFinancial as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in SmartFinancial by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 70,677 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,190,000 after acquiring an additional 3,390 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC bought a new stake in SmartFinancial during the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Ridgepath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SmartFinancial in the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. Stonegate Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of SmartFinancial in the fourth quarter valued at $351,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SmartFinancial in the fourth quarter valued at $192,000. Institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on SMBK shares. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens downgraded shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.70.

SmartFinancial Trading Down 1.0 %

SMBK stock opened at $32.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.47. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.00 and a 52 week high of $37.72. The company has a market capitalization of $547.05 million, a PE ratio of 15.10 and a beta of 0.67.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insider Activity at SmartFinancial

In other SmartFinancial news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.05, for a total transaction of $242,405.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,960 shares in the company, valued at $138,798. This represents a 63.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn acquired 1,162 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $34.75 per share, for a total transaction of $40,379.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 96,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,368,595.50. This represents a 1.21 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 7.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.