Fisher Asset Management LLC Acquires 39,995 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 621,000 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 39,995 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.49% of Simmons First National worth $13,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,992,851 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,478,000 after buying an additional 37,519 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,197,000 after buying an additional 65,992 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 676,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,565,000 after buying an additional 170,821 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 673,440 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,937,000 after purchasing an additional 27,115 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 356,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,907,000 after purchasing an additional 17,358 shares during the period. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Simmons First National Price Performance

SFNC stock opened at $21.82 on Tuesday. Simmons First National Co. has a 12 month low of $16.03 and a 12 month high of $25.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $22.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.51. The stock has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.03 and a beta of 0.86.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.67 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.2125 dividend. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. This is a boost from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is 70.25%.

Simmons First National 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.