ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 11.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,037,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,088 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $83,466,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,036,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,725,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on SFBS. StockNews.com lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 24th. Hovde Group raised their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SFBS opened at $85.86 on Friday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.05 and a twelve month high of $101.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.96 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.42.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.335 dividend. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This is an increase from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.83%.

Insider Activity at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $724,285.20. This represents a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

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.