Entropy Technologies LP Acquires New Position in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,037 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SFNC. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Simmons First National by 35.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,426 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp acquired a new position in Simmons First National during the first quarter worth $71,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 92.2% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,072 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 99.0% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,625 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 2,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the 1st quarter worth $216,000. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SFNC. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Zacks Research cut shares of Simmons First National from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. They set a “positive” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Simmons First National has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David W. Garner purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.66 per share, for a total transaction of $52,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 72,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,277,612.70. This represents a 4.33% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Steven A. Cosse acquired 8,603 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $17.44 per share, with a total value of $150,036.32. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 113,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,982,090.88. This represents a 8.19% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Simmons First National Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of SFNC opened at $18.63 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.21. Simmons First National Corporation has a 12-month low of $17.00 and a 12-month high of $25.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.36 and a beta of 0.97.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $232.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.26 million. Simmons First National had a negative net margin of 29.70% and a positive return on equity of 5.84%. Simmons First National’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.2125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is presently -29.01%.

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.