State Street Corp Sells 124,202 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

State Street Corp cut its stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,999,817 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 124,202 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $130,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 113,111.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 82,644 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 82,571 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the second quarter worth $479,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 6.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,752,000 after purchasing an additional 413,459 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,325 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,922,000 after buying an additional 27,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Simmons First National during the 2nd quarter worth $269,000. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Simmons First National Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $23.77 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.96. Simmons First National Co. has a 1-year low of $16.03 and a 1-year high of $25.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30 and a beta of 0.86. 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 data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.04. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The company had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Simmons First National’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SFNC shares. StockNews.com raised Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stephens upgraded Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Insider Transactions at Simmons First National

In other news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total value of $366,785.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David W. Garner sold 5,090 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.25, for a total value of $128,522.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,640,391.50. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650 over the last 90 days. 1.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.