Cibc World Markets Corp Makes New Investment in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,616 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Simmons First National in the third quarter worth $336,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National in the 3rd quarter valued at about $677,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,197,000 after buying an additional 65,992 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Simmons First National by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 214,944 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,630,000 after buying an additional 36,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Simmons First National by 30.0% during the third quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 24,845 shares of the bank’s stock worth $535,000 after acquiring an additional 5,739 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stephens lowered their target price on Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Simmons First National Stock Down 0.7 %

Simmons First National stock opened at $20.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Simmons First National Co. has a one year low of $16.03 and a one year high of $25.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15 and a beta of 0.84.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.67 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. Simmons First National’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.2125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is presently 70.25%.

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.