Piper Sandler Upgrades SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) to Overweight

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $26.00 price target on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price target of $25.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on SmartFinancial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised SmartFinancial from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on SmartFinancial from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $25.40.

SmartFinancial Stock Performance

Shares of SmartFinancial stock opened at $20.66 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.92. The company has a market capitalization of $352.46 million, a PE ratio of 13.24 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. SmartFinancial has a 52 week low of $18.86 and a 52 week high of $25.98.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Gary Wayne Petty, Jr. sold 2,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.63, for a total transaction of $51,782.22. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $412,938.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 7.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SmartFinancial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in SmartFinancial by 68.0% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 7,430 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 3,008 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the third quarter valued at about $159,000. 1492 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the fourth quarter valued at about $242,000. Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in SmartFinancial in the third quarter valued at about $292,000. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. raised its stake in SmartFinancial by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 16,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SmartFinancial Company Profile

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.