Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. $SMBC Shares Sold by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. sold 48.5% of its holdings in Southern Missouri Bancorp during the first quarter, retaining only 27,310 shares valued at approximately $1,421,000.
• Southern Missouri Bancorp recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.23 to $0.25 per share, yielding about 1.7% annually.
• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Southern Missouri Bancorp's stock from $60.00 to $63.00, maintaining a "market perform" rating.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBC - Free Report) by 48.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,310 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 25,683 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 0.23% of Southern Missouri Bancorp worth $1,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 609,644 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $31,714,000 after buying an additional 12,358 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Southern Missouri Bancorp by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,765 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $22,820,000 after buying an additional 18,623 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 229,885 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $11,959,000 after acquiring an additional 21,788 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 63.4% during the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 107,690 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $5,602,000 after acquiring an additional 41,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 98,595 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $5,656,000 after acquiring an additional 4,722 shares during the period. 49.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SMBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp in a report on Thursday, August 28th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Missouri Bancorp has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $64.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William E. Young sold 10,000 shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $563,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 94,987 shares in the company, valued at $5,347,768.10. This trade represents a 9.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 16.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Missouri Bancorp Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp stock opened at $57.08 on Wednesday. Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.10 and a twelve month high of $68.69. The stock has a market cap of $645.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $55.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.01.

Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.16. Southern Missouri Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 19.17%.The company had revenue of $47.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $46.60 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Missouri Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from Southern Missouri Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Southern Missouri Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is 19.31%.

About Southern Missouri Bancorp

Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Southern Bank that provides banking and financial services to individuals and corporate customers in the United States. The company offers deposits products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, saving accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement savings plans, and money market deposit accounts.