SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Stock Price Up 3.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) rose 3.7% during trading on Wednesday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $36.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. SmartFinancial traded as high as $32.33 and last traded at $32.19. Approximately 40,261 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 45,237 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.05.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on SMBK. Piper Sandler cut SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SmartFinancial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SMBK. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 429.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,688 shares of the bank’s stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 19,210 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 59,437 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 130,361 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 24,979 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,870 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,179,000 after purchasing an additional 44,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in SmartFinancial by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 789,233 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,629,000 after buying an additional 19,490 shares during the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $551.99 million, a PE ratio of 20.74 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.17 and a 200 day moving average of $25.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.32 million. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.55% and a net margin of 9.93%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About SmartFinancial

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.