Insider Selling: SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Director Sells 6,916 Shares of Stock

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.05, for a total transaction of $242,405.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $138,798. This trade represents a 63.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK opened at $34.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $584.79 million, a PE ratio of 17.81 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.00 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The business had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Hovde Group increased their price objective on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens cut shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 5,269.2% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,396 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in SmartFinancial in the third quarter valued at about $161,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in SmartFinancial in the third quarter valued at about $226,000. CAP Partners LLC acquired a new position in SmartFinancial during the third quarter worth about $230,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in SmartFinancial during the third quarter worth about $272,000. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.