Covestor Ltd Trims Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Covestor Ltd trimmed its stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 50.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,054 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,075 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $46,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,095,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 49.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,011,431 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,434,000 after buying an additional 335,260 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Simmons First National by 71.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 631,203 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,000,000 after buying an additional 262,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 692.4% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 221,855 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,921,000 after buying an additional 193,856 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Simmons First National Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $18.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Simmons First National Co. has a 12-month low of $16.03 and a 12-month high of $25.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.24.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. The business had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.2125 dividend. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.72%. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.25%.

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.