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 report released on Sunday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on SFBS. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of SFBS opened at $83.94 on Friday. ServisFirst Bancshares has a one year low of $58.05 and a one year high of $101.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $91.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.72. 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 has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44 and a beta of 0.91.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 14.23%. The company had revenue of $256.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.70 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total transaction of $85,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $724,285.20. The trade was a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2,704.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 415,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,428,000 after purchasing an additional 400,694 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $10,507,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,181,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,037,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,466,000 after buying an additional 108,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 708,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,983,000 after purchasing an additional 83,804 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is 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.