Ghisallo Capital Management LLC Invests $4.31 Million in Simmons First National Corporation $SFNC

Ghisallo Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 225,000 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,313,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Simmons First National by 197.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Simmons First National by 42.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,175 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in Simmons First National by 32.0% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,658 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 68.4% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,938 shares of the bank’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 2,412 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFNC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Simmons First National in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial raised Simmons First National from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $23.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Simmons First National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.43.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of SFNC stock opened at $18.61 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of -6.72 and a beta of 0.91. Simmons First National Corporation has a 1 year low of $17.00 and a 1 year high of $22.17.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. Simmons First National had a positive return on equity of 6.73% and a negative net margin of 27.83%.The company had revenue of $249.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.68 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Simmons First National’s revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Simmons First National Corporation will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 17th that allows the company to buyback $175.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to buy up to 5.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.215 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. This is a boost from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is presently -30.69%.

About Simmons First National

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Through its primary operating subsidiary, Simmons Bank, the company maintains a network of more than 200 branches across Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Simmons First National offers a full suite of financial services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients, emphasizing relationship-driven community banking.

The company’s core business activities span deposit-taking, lending and payment services.