Teza Capital Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 10,527 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mustard Seed Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 1.9% in the first quarter. Mustard Seed Financial LLC now owns 34,402 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Simmons First National by 5.5% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 16,058 shares of the bank’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Simmons First National by 1.6% during the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 62,588 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Simmons First National by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 27,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Simmons First National by 7.7% during the first quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 14,738 shares of the bank’s stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Simmons First National

In other news, Director Russell William Teubner purchased 9,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.62 per share, for a total transaction of $171,304.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 53,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $990,956.40. This trade represents a 20.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Charles Daniel Hobbs purchased 5,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $18.50 per share, for a total transaction of $99,900.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,940.50. This trade represents a 112.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 100,755 shares of company stock valued at $1,865,332 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on SFNC. DA Davidson raised their target price on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Simmons First National from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.75.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $20.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.58. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.11 and a beta of 0.97. Simmons First National Corporation has a 1-year low of $17.20 and a 1-year high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.04. Simmons First National had a net margin of 11.19% and a return on equity of 5.23%. The company had revenue of $214.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $217.21 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.2125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.93%.

Simmons First National 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.