SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Trading Up 3.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK - Get Free Report) shot up 3.7% during trading on Wednesday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $36.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. SmartFinancial traded as high as $32.33 and last traded at $32.19. 40,261 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 11% from the average session volume of 45,237 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.05.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of SmartFinancial in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of SmartFinancial from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartFinancial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SMBK. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of SmartFinancial in the 3rd quarter worth about $161,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in SmartFinancial in the first quarter valued at approximately $271,000. Creative Planning bought a new position in SmartFinancial during the third quarter valued at $394,000. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the third quarter worth $415,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 429.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,688 shares of the bank's stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 19,210 shares during the period. 58.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $28.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.32. The stock has a market cap of $547.89 million, a PE ratio of 20.32 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 6.55%. The firm had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. SmartFinancial's dividend payout ratio is 20.51%.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.