Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 29,708 Shares of Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Voya Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 13.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,132 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 29,708 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $3,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. 1900 Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Simmons First National by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,560 shares of the bank’s stock worth $902,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Simmons First National by 32.0% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,658 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 0.7% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 115,982 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 787 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 24.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 4.2% during the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 27,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In other news, EVP David W. Garner purchased 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.66 per share, for a total transaction of $52,980.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 72,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,277,612.70. This trade represents a 4.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven A. Cosse acquired 8,603 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $17.44 per share, for a total transaction of $150,036.32. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 113,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,982,090.88. The trade was a 8.19% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on SFNC. Baird R W raised Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Simmons First National from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Simmons First National in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. They set a “positive” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded Simmons First National from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simmons First National has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.33.

Simmons First National Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of SFNC opened at $19.24 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.20. Simmons First National Corporation has a 12 month low of $17.00 and a 12 month high of $23.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of -6.57 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.01). Simmons First National had a negative net margin of 29.70% and a positive return on equity of 5.84%. The company had revenue of $232.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.2125 per share. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is currently -29.01%.

Simmons First National Company Profile

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Through its primary operating subsidiary, Simmons Bank, the company maintains a network of more than 200 branches across Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Simmons First National offers a full suite of financial services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients, emphasizing relationship-driven community banking.

The company’s core business activities span deposit-taking, lending and payment services.