Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,895,477 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,335 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.51% of Simmons First National worth $42,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new stake in Simmons First National during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 168.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 1,345 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 621,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,774,000 after buying an additional 39,995 shares during the period. Carlson Capital L.P. bought a new stake in Simmons First National in the fourth quarter worth $464,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Simmons First National by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 26,560 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Simmons First National Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $20.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85 and a beta of 0.84. Simmons First National Co. has a twelve month low of $16.03 and a twelve month high of $25.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.48.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.67 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.2125 per share. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.25%.

Simmons First National Company Profile

Simmons First National Corporation operates as the holding company for Simmons Bank that provides banking and other financial products and services to individuals and businesses. The company offers checking, savings, and time deposits; consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; agricultural finance, equipment, and small business administration lending; trust and fiduciary services; credit cards; investment management products; treasury management; insurance products; and securities and investment services.