Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 195,166 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,110 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.16% of Simmons First National worth $4,329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Retirement Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 15,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 7,392 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Simmons First National during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,095,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Simmons First National by 49.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,011,431 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $22,434,000 after purchasing an additional 335,260 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 28,022 shares of the bank’s stock worth $622,000 after purchasing an additional 3,177 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,866,647 shares of the bank’s stock worth $329,742,000 after purchasing an additional 630,376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Simmons First National Stock Performance

SFNC opened at $20.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.62 and a 200 day moving average of $22.48. Simmons First National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $16.03 and a fifty-two week high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 10.46%. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.2125 per share. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.