SmartFinancial, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.08 (NASDAQ:SMBK)

SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the bank on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st.

SmartFinancial has raised its dividend by an average of 17.0% annually over the last three years.

SmartFinancial Trading Up 7.8 %

NASDAQ:SMBK traded up $2.52 on Wednesday, reaching $34.70. 82,495 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,881. The firm has a market capitalization of $587.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89 and a beta of 0.70. SmartFinancial has a 1-year low of $19.00 and a 1-year high of $37.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.40 and its 200-day moving average is $30.53.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.32 million. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 6.81%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SMBK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price target on SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens downgraded shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SmartFinancial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

Insider Activity at SmartFinancial

In related news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.05, for a total value of $242,405.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,798. This trade represents a 63.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 7,516 shares of company stock valued at $262,600 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.