SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK – Get Rating) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.40.

A number of research firms have commented on SMBK. Raymond James began coverage on SmartFinancial in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered SmartFinancial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Piper Sandler lowered SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. Finally, Hovde Group lowered SmartFinancial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

SMBK stock opened at $22.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $375.80 million, a P/E ratio of 8.73 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $26.89 and its 200 day moving average is $27.14. SmartFinancial has a 52 week low of $20.11 and a 52 week high of $30.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $54.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.29 million. SmartFinancial had a return on equity of 10.36% and a net margin of 23.06%. Research analysts predict that SmartFinancial will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

SmartFinancial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 9th. This is a boost from SmartFinancial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SmartFinancial

In other news, Chairman Wesley Miller Welborn bought 1,284 shares of SmartFinancial stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.40 per share, with a total value of $33,897.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now owns 85,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,364. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of SmartFinancial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,986,000. Salzhauer Michael raised its stake in SmartFinancial by 29.6% in the third quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 221,389 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,470,000 after buying an additional 50,522 shares in the last quarter. EAM Investors LLC bought a new position in SmartFinancial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,252,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in SmartFinancial by 56.9% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 107,483 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,597,000 after buying an additional 38,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in SmartFinancial by 78.5% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 87,636 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,164,000 after buying an additional 38,532 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.79% of the company’s stock.

About SmartFinancial

(Get Rating)

SmartFinancial, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial banking services through SmartBank. It operates through the following portfolio segments: Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, and Consumer and Other.