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

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,053,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,916 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $89,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $69,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SFBS shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total transaction of $1,596,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,546,224.48. This represents a 50.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of SFBS opened at $90.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72 and a beta of 0.91. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.10 and a 1 year high of $101.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.55.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 14.81%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.21%.

ServisFirst Bancshares 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.