Rafferty Asset Management LLC Acquires 14,105 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,670 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 14,105 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned about 0.09% of Simmons First National worth $2,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Simmons First National by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,866,647 shares of the bank's stock valued at $329,742,000 after purchasing an additional 630,376 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Simmons First National by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,616,599 shares of the bank's stock valued at $168,938,000 after purchasing an additional 51,468 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Simmons First National by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,895,477 shares of the bank's stock valued at $42,042,000 after purchasing an additional 29,335 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Simmons First National during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,095,000. Finally, FJ Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Simmons First National by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104,008 shares of the bank's stock valued at $24,487,000 after purchasing an additional 286,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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. Stephens decreased 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. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Simmons First National from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Simmons First National Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:SFNC traded down $0.09 on Friday, reaching $18.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 510,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 615,619. Simmons First National Co. has a 1-year low of $16.03 and a 1-year high of $25.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.91. The business's 50-day moving average price is $19.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.47.

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

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.2125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.28%.

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.