Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 630,376 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,866,647 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 630,376 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.84% of Simmons First National worth $329,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SFNC. Jones Financial Companies Lllp purchased a new position in shares of Simmons First National in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Simmons First National by 168.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,144 shares of the bank's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,091 shares of the bank's stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,778 shares of the bank's stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.58% of the company's stock.

Simmons First National Stock Down 1.0 %

Simmons First National stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $18.05. 742,851 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 583,632. Simmons First National Co. has a one year low of $16.03 and a one year high of $25.95. The company has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.82. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $21.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.67 million. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 10.46%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.2125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Simmons First National's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.71%. Simmons First National's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stephens dropped their price objective on Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

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.