M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Invests $889,000 in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 40,066 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $889,000. Simmons First National makes up 1.0% of M.E. Allison & CO. Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Simmons First National by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the bank's stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Simmons First National by 13.7% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,129 shares of the bank's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Simmons First National by 29.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,648 shares of the bank's stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 119,236 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 19,982 shares of the bank's stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company's stock.

Simmons First National Trading Up 1.6 %

SFNC traded up $0.35 on Monday, hitting $22.72. 622,282 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 622,642. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.97. Simmons First National Co. has a 12 month low of $16.03 and a 12 month high of $25.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27 and a beta of 0.87.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.91 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 8.94% and a return on equity of 5.15%. Simmons First National's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio is 82.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFNC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens upgraded Simmons First National from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $23.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David W. Garner sold 5,090 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.25, for a total value of $128,522.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,640,391.50. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of Simmons First National stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total transaction of $641,342.40. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 608,347 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,336,427.87. This trade represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650. Corporate insiders own 1.91% of the company's stock.

Simmons First National 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.