SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Lowered to Equal Weight Rating by Stephens

Stephens lowered shares of SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Hovde Group raised their price target on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

SmartFinancial Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ SMBK opened at $34.82 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $33.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.75. The company has a market capitalization of $589.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95 and a beta of 0.68. SmartFinancial has a 1 year low of $19.00 and a 1 year high of $37.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.32 million. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.88%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that SmartFinancial will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. SmartFinancial’s payout ratio is 16.49%.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the director now directly owns 3,960 shares in the company, valued at $138,798. This trade represents a 63.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,516 shares of company stock valued at $262,600. Company insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SmartFinancial

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 2.5% during the first 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 699,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,563,000 after purchasing an additional 35,054 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in SmartFinancial by 69.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 340,418 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,920,000 after purchasing an additional 139,009 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 336,147 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,795,000 after buying an additional 10,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 335,501 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,779,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.78% 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.