Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Grows Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,845 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,739 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Simmons First National by 161.0% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,843 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 2,045.5% during the second quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 1,888 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,129 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Simmons First National by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,648 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Simmons First National in the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Simmons First National news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total value of $641,342.40. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at $15,336,427.87. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO David W. Garner sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.25, for a total transaction of $128,522.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 64,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,640,391.50. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650. 1.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFNC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens raised Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Simmons First National Stock Down 0.6 %

SFNC stock opened at $24.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.40. Simmons First National Co. has a 12 month low of $15.72 and a 12 month high of $25.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.91 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is 82.35%.

Simmons First National Company 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.