ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Increases Dividend to $0.34 Per Share

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 16th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.335 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. This is an increase from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

ServisFirst Bancshares has increased its dividend payment by an average of 16.3% annually over the last three years. ServisFirst Bancshares has a payout ratio of 23.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect ServisFirst Bancshares to earn $5.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.0%.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SFBS opened at $94.36 on Tuesday. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 12-month low of $58.05 and a 12-month high of $101.37. The company has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.23 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $90.11 and a 200 day moving average of $78.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $256.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.70 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 14.23%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at ServisFirst Bancshares

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on SFBS shares. StockNews.com downgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company Profile

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.