Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) Increases Dividend to $0.22 Per Share

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.215 per share by the bank on Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a 1.2% increase from Simmons First National’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Simmons First National has increased its dividend by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Simmons First National has a payout ratio of 45.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Simmons First National to earn $1.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.85 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.0%.

Simmons First National Price Performance

Shares of SFNC stock traded up $0.46 on Wednesday, hitting $20.87. 271,761 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,149,266. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Simmons First National has a 52 week low of $17.00 and a 52 week high of $22.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.46. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.54 and a beta of 0.93.

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $249.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.68 million. Simmons First National had a positive return on equity of 6.73% and a negative net margin of 27.83%.Simmons First National’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Simmons First National will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simmons First National Company Profile

Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Through its primary operating subsidiary, Simmons Bank, the company maintains a network of more than 200 branches across Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Simmons First National offers a full suite of financial services to individuals, small businesses and commercial clients, emphasizing relationship-driven community banking.

The company’s core business activities span deposit-taking, lending and payment services.