Cerity Partners LLC Buys New Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,222 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $335,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Simmons First National by 692.4% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 221,855 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,921,000 after purchasing an additional 193,856 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 33,319 shares of the bank's stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 8,825 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 94,366 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,093,000 after buying an additional 13,174 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 393.0% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 185,604 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,117,000 after buying an additional 147,954 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 159,703 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,542,000 after buying an additional 6,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Simmons First National from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Piper Sandler raised Simmons First National from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Stephens reduced their price objective on Simmons First National from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Simmons First National Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of SFNC traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.41. The company had a trading volume of 42,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 677,200. Simmons First National Co. has a 1-year low of $16.03 and a 1-year high of $25.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.10). Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 10.46%. The company had revenue of $209.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.00 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.2125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Simmons First National's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.62%. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio is currently 73.28%.

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.