Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. Takes $4.49 Million Position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 154,134 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $4,491,000. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. owned 0.91% of SmartFinancial as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SMBK. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 429.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,688 shares of the bank's stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 19,210 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 23.7% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 130,361 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,747,000 after buying an additional 24,979 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 2.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 789,233 shares of the bank's stock valued at $16,629,000 after buying an additional 19,490 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 320.7% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 54,574 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,289,000 after buying an additional 41,602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 183,751 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,349,000 after buying an additional 26,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMBK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of SmartFinancial in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James raised their price objective on SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler downgraded SmartFinancial from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SmartFinancial currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.50.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.93. The stock had a trading volume of 37,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 72,872. The firm has a market cap of $608.15 million, a PE ratio of 18.52 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.08. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.00 and a twelve month high of $37.72.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.88%. The business had revenue of $73.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. SmartFinancial's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.49%.

SmartFinancial 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.