Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC Shares Purchased by Quantbot Technologies LP

Key Points

• Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in Simmons First National Corporation by 71.2%, owning approximately 68,595 shares valued at $1,408,000 after acquiring additional shares in the first quarter.
• Simmons First National has received upgrades from analysts, with institutions setting a new average price target of $22.75 and a rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Insider trading activity included significant purchases by the CFO and COO, with insiders acquiring a total of 100,755 shares in the past ninety days.

Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) by 71.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,595 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 28,523 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP owned approximately 0.05% of Simmons First National worth $1,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in Simmons First National by 234.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 153,661 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,155,000 after buying an additional 107,752 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National in the first quarter valued at about $457,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 3.6% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 89,439 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,836,000 after purchasing an additional 3,116 shares during the period. Mustard Seed Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 1.9% in the first quarter. Mustard Seed Financial LLC now owns 34,402 shares of the bank's stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 27.4% in the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 398,497 shares of the bank's stock valued at $8,181,000 after purchasing an additional 85,630 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Simmons First National news, CEO George Makris, Jr. bought 28,075 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.50 per share, for a total transaction of $519,387.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 29,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at $546,675. This trade represents a 1,903.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Charles Daniel Hobbs bought 5,400 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $18.50 per share, for a total transaction of $99,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,213 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $188,940.50. This trade represents a 112.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 100,755 shares of company stock valued at $1,865,332 in the last 90 days. 1.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Simmons First National Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $20.59. The stock had a trading volume of 762,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,056,687. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.68. Simmons First National Corporation has a 1 year low of $17.20 and a 1 year high of $25.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $214.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $217.21 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.23% and a net margin of 11.19%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SFNC. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Zacks Research raised Simmons First National from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Simmons First National from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simmons First National has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.75.

Simmons First National 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.