Patten Group Inc. Trims Stake in Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC)

Patten Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,023 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,954 shares during the period. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Simmons First National were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 4.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 646,325 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,922,000 after purchasing an additional 27,479 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,866,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,197,000 after purchasing an additional 65,992 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the third quarter worth $1,339,000. Systematic Financial Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Simmons First National in the third quarter worth $824,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Simmons First National by 33.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 676,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,565,000 after purchasing an additional 170,821 shares in the last quarter. 27.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFNC opened at $20.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.51. Simmons First National Co. has a 52-week low of $16.03 and a 52-week high of $25.95.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.67 million. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. Simmons First National’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 firm posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Simmons First National Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.2125 dividend. This is an increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Simmons First National’s payout ratio is currently 70.25%.

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.