Trexquant Investment LP Increases Position in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Trexquant Investment LP lifted its stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 393.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 185,604 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 147,954 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $4,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Simmons First National by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,866,647 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $329,742,000 after buying an additional 630,376 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $64,478,000 after purchasing an additional 37,519 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,895,477 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,042,000 after purchasing an additional 29,335 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Simmons First National during the fourth quarter worth $27,095,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 49.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens cut their price target on 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 Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of Simmons First National stock opened at $18.26 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.43. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Simmons First National Co. has a 1 year low of $16.03 and a 1 year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.2125 dividend. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is currently 70.25%.

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.