Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.21

Simmons First National Co. (NASDAQ:SFNC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.2125 per share by the bank on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Simmons First National has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Simmons First National has a payout ratio of 44.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Simmons First National to earn $1.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.5%.

Simmons First National Stock Performance

SFNC traded up $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $22.77. 469,234 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 611,091. The firm has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82 and a beta of 0.87. Simmons First National has a twelve month low of $16.03 and a twelve month high of $25.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Simmons First National had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 5.10%. The company had revenue of $208.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. Simmons First National’s revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Simmons First National will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SFNC. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Simmons First National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Simmons First National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Simmons First National news, CEO Robert A. Fehlman sold 15,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.02, for a total value of $366,785.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 156,357 shares in the company, valued at $3,755,695.14. This trade represents a 8.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman George Makris, Jr. sold 25,440 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.21, for a total transaction of $641,342.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 608,347 shares in the company, valued at $15,336,427.87. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,800 shares of company stock worth $1,136,650 in the last quarter. 1.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Simmons First National Company Profile

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.