Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 54,585 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,286,153 shares of the bank's stock after selling 54,585 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.21% of Simmons First National worth $259,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,533,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Simmons First National by 16.5% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,418,405 shares of the bank's stock worth $169,413,000 after acquiring an additional 911,143 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Simmons First National by 56.4% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,043,756 shares of the bank's stock worth $27,649,000 after acquiring an additional 376,371 shares in the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Simmons First National by 194.1% in the second quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 525,833 shares of the bank's stock worth $11,180,000 after acquiring an additional 347,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Simmons First National in the fourth quarter worth $6,609,000. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Simmons First National from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th.

Simmons First National Stock Up 0.6 %

Simmons First National stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $19.46. The company had a trading volume of 672,692 shares, compared to its average volume of 511,458. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Simmons First National Co. has a 12 month low of $13.36 and a 12 month high of $20.82. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $18.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.77.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $197.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.25 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 12.82%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Simmons First National's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.87%.

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.