KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Invests $579,000 in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 25,900 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $579,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the bank’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 12,581 shares of the bank’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 19,600 shares of the bank’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 120,421 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,671,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Simmons First National Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $20.55 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.46. Simmons First National Co. has a 1-year low of $16.03 and a 1-year high of $25.95.

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

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.2125 per share. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.