MetLife Investment Management LLC Buys 391 Shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBC)

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBC) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,577 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southern Missouri Bancorp were worth $320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SMBC. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern Missouri Bancorp by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,909 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 52,993 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $3,040,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 13,350 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $766,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,026 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Southern Missouri Bancorp by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 45,918 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,634,000 after buying an additional 915 shares during the period. 49.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southern Missouri Bancorp

In other news, Director William E. Young sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.23, for a total transaction of $159,690.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,649 shares in the company, valued at $2,270,206.27. This represents a 6.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 16.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SMBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Southern Missouri Bancorp from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Southern Missouri Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Southern Missouri Bancorp Price Performance

SMBC stock opened at $52.46 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.49. Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.90 and a 1 year high of $68.69. The stock has a market cap of $627.37 million, a PE ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The savings and loans company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.08. Southern Missouri Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.45% and a net margin of 17.72%. The business had revenue of $46.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.33 million. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Missouri Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Southern Missouri Bancorp’s payout ratio is 18.47%.

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.