SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.00.

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler downgraded SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Hovde Group increased their price target on SmartFinancial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SmartFinancial

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMBK. Foundry Partners LLC increased its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 41.7% during the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,870 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,179,000 after acquiring an additional 44,407 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in SmartFinancial by 429.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,688 shares of the bank’s stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 19,210 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 130,361 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 24,979 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 789,233 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,629,000 after buying an additional 19,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 320.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

SmartFinancial Stock Down 0.8 %

SMBK opened at $29.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. SmartFinancial has a one year low of $19.00 and a one year high of $30.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $510.87 million, a P/E ratio of 19.19 and a beta of 0.69.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.55% and a net margin of 9.93%. The company had revenue of $68.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.51%.

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.