King Luther Capital Management Corp Has $699,000 Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

King Luther Capital Management Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 35.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,459 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 17,600 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SFNC. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Simmons First National by 3,808.6% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 95,839 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,865,000 after purchasing an additional 93,387 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Simmons First National in the first quarter valued at $1,254,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Simmons First National by 113,111.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 82,644 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,453,000 after buying an additional 82,571 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Simmons First National during the second quarter worth $479,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Simmons First National by 6.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,752,000 after acquiring an additional 413,459 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David W. Garner sold 5,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.25, for a total transaction of $128,522.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,640,391.50. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total value of $366,785.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 156,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,800 shares of company stock worth $1,136,650 in the last quarter. 1.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Simmons First National Stock Up 2.6 %

Simmons First National stock opened at $24.83 on Friday. Simmons First National Co. has a twelve month low of $15.72 and a twelve month high of $25.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.34 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.91 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is 82.35%.

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.