Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 85,522 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 243,111 shares of the bank's stock after selling 85,522 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.19% of Simmons First National worth $5,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Simmons First National by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,866,647 shares of the bank's stock valued at $329,742,000 after purchasing an additional 630,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Simmons First National by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,992,851 shares of the bank's stock worth $64,478,000 after buying an additional 37,519 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Simmons First National by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,895,477 shares of the bank's stock worth $42,042,000 after buying an additional 29,335 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Simmons First National by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 676,171 shares of the bank's stock valued at $14,565,000 after acquiring an additional 170,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 673,440 shares of the bank's stock worth $14,937,000 after acquiring an additional 27,115 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens lowered their target price on 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.

Simmons First National Stock Down 3.8 %

NASDAQ SFNC traded down $0.71 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $18.13. 292,243 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 577,330. The firm has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.98 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Simmons First National Co. has a 52-week low of $16.03 and a 52-week high of $25.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.44.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.67 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.2125 dividend. This is a boost from Simmons First National's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.25%.

Simmons First National Company 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.