Invesco Ltd. Buys 262,529 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 71.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 631,203 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 262,529 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $14,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SFNC. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 168.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Simmons First National by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,091 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Simmons First National in the fourth quarter valued at $258,000. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFNC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Simmons First National from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler raised shares of Simmons First National from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Simmons First National from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday.

Simmons First National Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $17.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Simmons First National Co. has a one year low of $16.03 and a one year high of $25.95. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.18 and a 200-day moving average of $22.12.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $209.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $209.00 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.2125 per share. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.28%.

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.