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

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.00.

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

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

NASDAQ SMBK opened at $30.37 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $518.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. SmartFinancial has a 1 year low of $19.00 and a 1 year high of $30.75.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $40.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that SmartFinancial will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.51%.

Institutional Trading of SmartFinancial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 429.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,688 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 19,210 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 59,437 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake 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 during the last quarter. 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 buying an additional 44,407 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in SmartFinancial by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 789,233 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,629,000 after buying an additional 19,490 shares during the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.