Dean Investment Associates LLC Buys 95,928 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Dean Investment Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) by 231.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 137,352 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 95,928 shares during the period. Dean Investment Associates LLC owned 0.11% of Simmons First National worth $2,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SFNC. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 113,111.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 82,644 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 82,571 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Simmons First National during the second quarter valued at about $479,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,323,934 shares of the bank's stock valued at $128,752,000 after acquiring an additional 413,459 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,325 shares of the bank's stock valued at $13,922,000 after acquiring an additional 27,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $269,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Simmons First National Price Performance

Shares of Simmons First National stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $24.14. 482,285 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 540,258. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.15% and a net margin of 8.94%. The company had revenue of $203.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $204.91 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Simmons First National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio is 82.35%.

Insider Transactions at Simmons First National

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