American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 16,579 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 541,648 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 16,579 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.43% of Simmons First National worth $12,014,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp acquired a new position in shares of Simmons First National during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 168.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the bank's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 1,345 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Simmons First National by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,091 shares of the bank's stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Simmons First National by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the bank's stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Simmons First National in the fourth quarter valued at $212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stephens cut their target price on shares of 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.

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Simmons First National Stock Performance

SFNC traded down $1.71 during trading on Thursday, hitting $18.84. The stock had a trading volume of 1,044,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 578,408. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.46. Simmons First National Co. has a one year low of $16.03 and a one year high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.67 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. Simmons First National's revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.51%. This is an increase from Simmons First National's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.25%.

About Simmons First National

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.