Citigroup Inc. Purchases 36,024 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 214,944 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 36,024 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.17% of Simmons First National worth $4,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SFNC. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Simmons First National by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,129 shares of the bank's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Simmons First National by 1.1% in the second quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 48,948 shares of the bank's stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Simmons First National by 2.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 35,085 shares of the bank's stock valued at $617,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 29.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,648 shares of the bank's stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Simmons First National by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 63,100 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens raised Simmons First National from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised Simmons First National from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Simmons First National Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ SFNC traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $24.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 485,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,495. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $23.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.62. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94 and a beta of 0.86. Simmons First National Co. has a 52 week low of $16.03 and a 52 week high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $203.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.91 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio is currently 82.35%.

Insider Activity at Simmons First National

In related news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total transaction of $366,785.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total value of $641,342.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.91% of the company's stock.

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.