Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Makes New Investment in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 7,770 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 24,147 shares of the bank’s stock worth $572,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 5,269.2% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 140,274 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 67,287 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,961,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 63.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 7,586 shares of company stock worth $264,600 in the last three months. 7.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SmartFinancial Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of SmartFinancial stock opened at $35.12 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $594.58 million, a P/E ratio of 18.10 and a beta of 0.68. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.00 and a 1-year high of $37.72.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.88%. The firm had revenue of $73.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. SmartFinancial’s payout ratio is 16.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SMBK. Stephens downgraded SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Hovde Group raised their price target on SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

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.