LeConte Wealth Management LLC Invests $602,000 in SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

Key Points

• LeConte Wealth Management LLC invested approximately $602,000 in SmartFinancial, acquiring 19,372 shares, making it the 26th largest holding in their portfolio.
• Analyst reports indicate a positive outlook for SmartFinancial, with Raymond James raising its price target to $44.00 and reaffirming a "strong-buy" rating.
• SmartFinancial announced a $0.08 quarterly dividend, representing an annualized yield of 0.9%, with the ex-dividend date set for August 8th.

LeConte Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 19,372 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $602,000. SmartFinancial makes up approximately 0.4% of LeConte Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. LeConte Wealth Management LLC owned about 0.11% of SmartFinancial as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in SmartFinancial by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 758,069 shares of the bank's stock valued at $23,485,000 after acquiring an additional 32,418 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in SmartFinancial by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 437,793 shares of the bank's stock valued at $13,563,000 after acquiring an additional 97,375 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 276,458 shares of the bank's stock valued at $8,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 127,177 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 3,390 shares during the period. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 88,206 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,733,000 after purchasing an additional 3,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SMBK shares. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $37.50 to $40.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.25.

SmartFinancial Trading Up 4.1%

Shares of SmartFinancial stock traded up $1.4460 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.4960. 18,619 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,642. The firm has a market capitalization of $621.16 million, a P/E ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 0.76. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.31 and a 1-year high of $37.72. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $34.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.03. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 7.33% and a net margin of 12.67%.During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. SmartFinancial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.96%.

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.