First Eagle Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in SmartFinancial, Inc. $SMBK

First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 375.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 152,167 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 120,167 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in SmartFinancial were worth $5,629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 846,978 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,263,000 after buying an additional 26,373 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in SmartFinancial by 1.9% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 836,529 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,889,000 after acquiring an additional 15,730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in SmartFinancial by 11.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 647,512 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,136,000 after acquiring an additional 64,810 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in SmartFinancial by 5.9% during the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 135,113 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,828,000 after acquiring an additional 7,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in SmartFinancial by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 132,067 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,885,000 after acquiring an additional 16,367 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

SMBK stock opened at $40.26 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.97. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.68 and a 12-month high of $43.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $688.33 million, a PE ratio of 18.81 and a beta of 0.73.

SmartFinancial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from SmartFinancial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. SmartFinancial’s payout ratio is currently 11.54%.

SmartFinancial declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, January 30th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to buy up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Hovde Group raised SmartFinancial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of SmartFinancial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.88.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, operating through its primary subsidiary, SmartBank. Incorporated in 2006, the company provides a full suite of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses and public entities across its regional footprint. SmartFinancial’s network of branch offices and digital platforms combines community-banking relationships with modern technology to serve its customers’ evolving needs.

Through SmartBank, the company offers a broad range of deposit products, including checking, savings and certificate of deposit accounts, alongside consumer and commercial lending solutions.