LMR Partners LLP Takes Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SFBS. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 138.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4,880.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter worth $84,000. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter valued at about $222,000. Finally, Mechanics Bank Trust Department bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter valued at about $225,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Hovde Group increased their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE SFBS opened at $92.73 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $84.60 and its 200 day moving average is $74.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.79 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.72 and a 1 year high of $100.14.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.23% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $256.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 32.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.