Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. Simmons First National had a return on equity of 5.12% and a net margin of 10.46%. The firm had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208,673.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Simmons First National Price Performance

NASDAQ:SFNC opened at $22.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $23.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.01. Simmons First National has a one year low of $16.03 and a one year high of $25.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Simmons First National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is 69.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Simmons First National

In other news, CAO David W. Garner sold 5,090 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.25, for a total transaction of $128,522.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,640,391.50. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total value of $366,785.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,800 shares of company stock valued at $1,136,650 in the last three months. 1.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFNC has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens raised Simmons First National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Simmons First National currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

About Simmons First National

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.