Piper Sandler Lowers SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) to Neutral

Piper Sandler lowered shares of SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Piper Sandler currently has $28.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their prior target price of $26.00.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on SMBK. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of SmartFinancial in a research note on Tuesday. Hovde Group lowered their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of SmartFinancial from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $27.00.

SmartFinancial Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SMBK opened at $28.20 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $23.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.36. SmartFinancial has a 12-month low of $19.00 and a 12-month high of $28.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $481.09 million, a P/E ratio of 18.08 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $68.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.32 million. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.60% and a net margin of 9.93%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. SmartFinancial’s payout ratio is 20.51%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John M. Presley sold 7,500 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.65, for a total transaction of $169,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,073 shares in the company, valued at $794,403.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SmartFinancial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 96,021 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in SmartFinancial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in SmartFinancial by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 789,233 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,629,000 after acquiring an additional 19,490 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC raised its holdings in SmartFinancial by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,870 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,179,000 after acquiring an additional 44,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in SmartFinancial by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 130,361 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 24,979 shares during the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

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.