Trexquant Investment LP Raises Holdings in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 30,026 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 543 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in SmartFinancial were worth $930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SMBK. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $192,000. Welch Group LLC purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Ridgepath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,292 shares of the bank’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $272,000. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at SmartFinancial

In other news, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn bought 1,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $34.75 per share, with a total value of $40,379.50. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 96,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,368,595.50. The trade was a 1.21 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective (up previously from $36.00) on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SmartFinancial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.70.

SmartFinancial Trading Down 4.9 %

NASDAQ SMBK opened at $27.07 on Friday. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.00 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72. The stock has a market cap of $460.68 million, a P/E ratio of 12.65 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

SmartFinancial Profile

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.