Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 20,850 Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 20,850 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFNC. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Simmons First National by 131.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 247,821 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,337,000 after acquiring an additional 140,738 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,339,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,325 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,922,000 after buying an additional 27,479 shares in the last quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the 4th quarter worth approximately $889,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,091 shares of the bank’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SFNC shares. Piper Sandler raised Simmons First National from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Stephens cut their target price on Simmons First National from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Simmons First National from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

SFNC opened at $19.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.68. 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 Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $209.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.00 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 10.46%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.2125 per share. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.28%.

Simmons First National Company 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.