SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK – Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott cut SmartFinancial from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of SmartFinancial in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. They issued a market perform rating on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered shares of SmartFinancial from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 24th. Finally, Hovde Group cut shares of SmartFinancial from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $29.83.

SmartFinancial Trading Down 4.7 %

NASDAQ:SMBK opened at $22.52 on Thursday. SmartFinancial has a 52 week low of $20.11 and a 52 week high of $30.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $380.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.74.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $54.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.29 million. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 10.36% and a net margin of 23.06%. On average, equities analysts expect that SmartFinancial will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a boost from SmartFinancial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 9th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn bought 1,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.40 per share, for a total transaction of $33,897.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 85,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,364. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 8.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartFinancial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SMBK. Martingale Asset Management L P grew its stake in SmartFinancial by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 36,827 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 5.7% in the second quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 7,262 shares of the bank’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,933 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 8.1% in the third quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 9,374 shares of the bank’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA grew its position in SmartFinancial by 22.7% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 3,924 shares of the bank’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. 44.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

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SmartFinancial, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial banking services through SmartBank. It operates through the following portfolio segments: Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, and Consumer and Other.