Barclays PLC Buys 10,055 Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Barclays PLC increased its position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 78.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,848 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,055 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.13% of SmartFinancial worth $666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMBK. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 5,269.2% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,396 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in SmartFinancial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $161,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of SmartFinancial in the 3rd quarter worth about $226,000. CAP Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SmartFinancial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $230,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of SmartFinancial during the third quarter valued at about $272,000. 58.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK opened at $30.98 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $524.37 million, a P/E ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.00 and a twelve month high of $37.72.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $73.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.32 million. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.88%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is 16.49%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 value of $242,405.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $138,798. This represents a 63.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,516 shares of company stock valued at $262,600. Insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on SMBK. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens downgraded shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SmartFinancial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.50.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

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.