Simmons First National (SFNC) Competitors

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) and Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Is SSB or SFNC a better dividend stock?

SouthState pays an annual dividend of $2.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Simmons First National pays an annual dividend of $0.85 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. SouthState pays out 34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Simmons First National pays out 73.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. SouthState has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Simmons First National has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Simmons First National is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, SSB or SFNC?

SouthState has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Simmons First National has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, SSB or SFNC?

SouthState has higher revenue and earnings than Simmons First National. SouthState is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Simmons First National, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SouthState	$1.88B	4.75	$534.78M	$6.33	13.91
Simmons First National	$777.54M	3.06	$152.69M	$1.16	16.28

Does the media refer more to SSB or SFNC?

In the previous week, SouthState had 4 more articles in the media than Simmons First National. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for SouthState and 10 mentions for Simmons First National. Simmons First National's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat SouthState's score of 1.32 indicating that Simmons First National is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SouthState	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Simmons First National	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SSB or SFNC?

SouthState received 239 more outperform votes than Simmons First National when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.01% of users gave SouthState an outperform vote while only 47.64% of users gave Simmons First National an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
SouthState	Outperform Votes 511 62.01%	Underperform Votes 313 37.99%
Simmons First National	Outperform Votes 272 47.64%	Underperform Votes 299 52.36%

Is SSB or SFNC more profitable?

SouthState has a net margin of 22.38% compared to Simmons First National's net margin of 10.46%. SouthState's return on equity of 9.62% beat Simmons First National's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SouthState	22.38%	9.62%	1.21%
Simmons First National	10.46%	5.10%	0.65%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in SSB or SFNC?

89.8% of SouthState shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.6% of Simmons First National shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of SouthState shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Simmons First National shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate SSB or SFNC?

SouthState currently has a consensus target price of $116.27, suggesting a potential upside of 32.08%. Simmons First National has a consensus target price of $22.33, suggesting a potential upside of 18.23%. Given SouthState's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe SouthState is more favorable than Simmons First National.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SouthState	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.09
Simmons First National	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Summary

SouthState beats Simmons First National on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.