Simmons First National Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.21 (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the bank on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th.

Simmons First National has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Simmons First National has a dividend payout ratio of 51.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Simmons First National to earn $1.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.2%.

Simmons First National Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $24.05 on Wednesday. Simmons First National has a 1 year low of $16.03 and a 1 year high of $25.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.84.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Simmons First National will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In other news, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total value of $641,342.40. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total value of $366,785.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,800 shares of company stock worth $1,136,650 in the last 90 days. 1.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SFNC shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 lifted their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

About Simmons First National

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.