Russell Investments Group Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in SmartFinancial, Inc. by 23.5%, selling 30,553 shares and now holds around 0.59% of the company worth approximately $3.1 million.
• SmartFinancial announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share to be paid on August 25th, representing an annualized yield of 0.9%.
• Analysts have rated SmartFinancial with a "Moderate Buy," with a revised target price averaging $38.25 following recent upgrades from firms like Raymond James and Hovde Group.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK - Free Report) by 23.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 99,641 shares of the bank's stock after selling 30,553 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.59% of SmartFinancial worth $3,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in SmartFinancial by 91.8% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 30,938 shares of the bank's stock valued at $958,000 after acquiring an additional 14,810 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in SmartFinancial by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 26,095 shares of the bank's stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 3,247 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in SmartFinancial by 45.9% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 87,634 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,724,000 after buying an additional 27,586 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in SmartFinancial by 281.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 60,255 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,867,000 after buying an additional 44,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in SmartFinancial by 282.9% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,489 shares of the bank's stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 1,839 shares in the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SMBK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $44.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of SmartFinancial in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $37.50 to $40.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SmartFinancial presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.25.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

NASDAQ:SMBK traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $36.78. The stock had a trading volume of 35,580 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,737. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.66. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $26.31 and a one year high of $37.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $625.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19 and a beta of 0.76.

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

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. SmartFinancial's dividend payout ratio is presently 12.96%.

About SmartFinancial

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.