SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Stock Holdings Lifted by Jane Street Group LLC

Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,925 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in SmartFinancial were worth $435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SMBK. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 96,021 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 1.5% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 24,147 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 22.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 30,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 320.7% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 54,574 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 41,602 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in SmartFinancial by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 183,751 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after purchasing an additional 26,583 shares during the period. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.05, for a total value of $242,405.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,798. This represents a 63.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 7,516 shares of company stock worth $262,600 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SMBK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens downgraded SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five 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.com, SmartFinancial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

SMBK opened at $30.51 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $516.41 million, a PE ratio of 15.73 and a beta of 0.70. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.00 and a 1 year high of $37.72.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.32 million. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 6.81%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is 16.49%.

SmartFinancial Company 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.