Ieq Capital LLC Invests $364,000 in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 16,422 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $364,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,992,851 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,478,000 after acquiring an additional 37,519 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Simmons First National by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,197,000 after buying an additional 65,992 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 33.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 676,171 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,565,000 after acquiring an additional 170,821 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Simmons First National by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 673,440 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,937,000 after acquiring an additional 27,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 356,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,907,000 after acquiring an additional 17,358 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Simmons First National Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of SFNC stock opened at $21.69 on Friday. Simmons First National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $16.03 and a fifty-two week high of $25.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.44. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93 and a beta of 0.86.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 10.46%. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Simmons First National’s revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 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 Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.2125 dividend. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. This is a positive change from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.25%.

About Simmons First National

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.