Wellington Management Group LLP Increases Stake in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,591,542 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 245,024 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $149,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Simmons First National by 27.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 88,632 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after buying an additional 18,933 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 271.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 158,856 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,261,000 after buying an additional 116,072 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 73,861 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,516,000 after buying an additional 3,221 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 3,624.6% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,036 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 12,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 1,288.2% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 18,046 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 16,746 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. National Bank Financial set a $25.00 price target on Simmons First National in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Simmons First National in a report on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Simmons First National from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Simmons First National presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.50.

Simmons First National Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ SFNC opened at $22.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.92 and a beta of 0.91. 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 50 day simple moving average of $23.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its earnings results 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%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Simmons First National Corporation will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders 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 3.8%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is -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.