SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Receives “Strong-Buy” Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James restated their strong-buy rating on shares of SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a $42.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $36.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens cut SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, SmartFinancial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.70.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

SMBK stock opened at $34.88 on Thursday. SmartFinancial has a 1 year low of $19.00 and a 1 year high of $37.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $590.48 million, a PE ratio of 16.30 and a beta of 0.70. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.63.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 7.33% and a net margin of 12.67%. The business had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.32 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Insider Activity at SmartFinancial

In other SmartFinancial news, Director John M. Presley sold 6,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.05, for a total transaction of $242,405.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,960 shares in the company, valued at $138,798. This represents a 63.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,516 shares of company stock worth $262,600. Insiders own 7.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartFinancial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SMBK. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in SmartFinancial by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 24,147 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of SmartFinancial by 6.9% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 14,925 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of SmartFinancial by 0.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 335,501 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in SmartFinancial by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 1,349 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 5,269.2% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,370 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.