ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

SFBS has been the subject of several other reports. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of SFBS opened at $94.70 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.57. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 1-year low of $49.72 and a 1-year high of $100.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.32 and a beta of 0.86.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.13. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.23% and a net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $256.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 32.09%.

Insider Transactions at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total value of $966,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 307,837 shares in the company, valued at $24,805,505.46. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total value of $85,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at $724,285.20. This trade represents a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2,704.5% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 415,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,428,000 after purchasing an additional 400,694 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 34.0% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,438,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,484,000 after buying an additional 364,720 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,699,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,228,000 after buying an additional 221,507 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $10,507,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $7,181,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ServisFirst Bank that provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers. It accepts demand, time, savings, and other deposits; checking, money market, and IRA accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company's loan products include commercial lending products, including seasonal, bridge, and term loans for working capital, expansion of the business, acquisition of property, and plant and equipment, as well as commercial lines of credit; commercial real estate loans, construction and development loans, and residential real estate loans; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans, vehicle financing, loans secured by deposits, and secured and unsecured personal loans.