Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) to Issue $0.21 Quarterly Dividend

Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the bank on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%.

Simmons First National has raised its dividend by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Simmons First National has a payout ratio of 51.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Simmons First National to earn $1.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.2%.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

SFNC stock traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.36. 33,440 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 536,461. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.49 and a beta of 0.86. Simmons First National has a 1-year low of $15.72 and a 1-year high of $25.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. Simmons First National had a net margin of 8.94% and a return on equity of 5.15%. The company had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Simmons First National will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David W. Garner sold 3,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total transaction of $76,356.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares in the company, valued at $1,377,928.86. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Simmons First National from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens raised shares of Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Simmons First National from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Simmons First National has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.00.

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.