Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 1,133 Shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 67,303 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,133 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $1,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 4.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,325 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,922,000 after acquiring an additional 27,479 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 3.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,197,000 after acquiring an additional 65,992 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National during the third quarter worth approximately $1,339,000. Systematic Financial Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Simmons First National during the third quarter worth approximately $824,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Simmons First National by 33.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 676,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,565,000 after acquiring an additional 170,821 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.58% of the company’s stock.

Simmons First National Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of SFNC stock opened at $21.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.45. Simmons First National Co. has a 1 year low of $16.03 and a 1 year high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $208.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.2125 per share. The ex-dividend date is 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 yield of 3.87%. Simmons First National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stephens reduced 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.

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.