SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.00.

SMBK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of SmartFinancial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler cut shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of SmartFinancial in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at SmartFinancial

In related news, Director John M. Presley sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.65, for a total value of $169,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,073 shares in the company, valued at $794,403.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in SmartFinancial by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 24,147 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $572,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its position in SmartFinancial by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 33,927 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. grew its holdings in SmartFinancial by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 16,525 shares of the bank’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,916 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in SmartFinancial by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,300 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 2,350 shares in the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of SMBK stock opened at $26.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. SmartFinancial has a fifty-two week low of $19.00 and a fifty-two week high of $28.83. The company has a market cap of $460.53 million, a PE ratio of 17.30 and a beta of 0.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $24.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.59.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $68.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.32 million. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 6.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that SmartFinancial will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is 20.51%.

About SmartFinancial

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.