Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires Shares of 146,264 Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 146,264 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,313,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.10% of Simmons First National at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Simmons First National by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,471,523 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $310,488,000 after buying an additional 51,914 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Simmons First National by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,569,943 shares of the bank’s stock worth $144,223,000 after acquiring an additional 389,634 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,814,476 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,453,000 after acquiring an additional 70,486 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 2.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,508,330 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $86,425,000 after acquiring an additional 91,596 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,558,574 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,090,000 after purchasing an additional 53,994 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SFNC. National Bank Financial set a $26.00 target price on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Friday. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Simmons First National in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Simmons First National from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $27.50 in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.21.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

SFNC stock opened at $23.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.59. Simmons First National Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.00 and a fifty-two week high of $24.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of -9.36 and a beta of 0.89.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.03). Simmons First National had a negative net margin of 24.64% and a positive return on equity of 8.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Simmons First National Corporation will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.215 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -33.99%.

Simmons First National Profile

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Through its primary operating subsidiary, Simmons Bank, the company maintains a network of more than 200 branches across Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Simmons First National offers a full suite of financial services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients, emphasizing relationship-driven community banking.

The company’s core business activities span deposit-taking, lending and payment services.