Piper Sandler Upgrades SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) to “Overweight”

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) was upgraded by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $26.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their prior target price of $25.00. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.76% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on SMBK. StockNews.com upgraded shares of SmartFinancial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.40.

SmartFinancial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK opened at $20.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. SmartFinancial has a 52 week low of $18.86 and a 52 week high of $25.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $355.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 0.69.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 22nd. The bank reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.02). SmartFinancial had a net margin of 10.65% and a return on equity of 6.94%. The company had revenue of $65.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at SmartFinancial

In other news, EVP Gary Wayne Petty, Jr. sold 2,394 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.63, for a total transaction of $51,782.22. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,091 shares in the company, valued at $412,938.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 7.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartFinancial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundry Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 106,463 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,607,000 after buying an additional 32,968 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in SmartFinancial by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 105,382 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,581,000 after purchasing an additional 34,488 shares during the period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,872,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the third quarter valued at approximately $758,000. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC grew its holdings in SmartFinancial by 54.2% in the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 33,427 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 11,750 shares during the period. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.