ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on SFBS. Piper Sandler boosted their target price 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. Hovde Group boosted 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 note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $84.32 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.22. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 0.91. ServisFirst Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $58.05 and a fifty-two week high of $101.37.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released 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 net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 14.23%. The firm 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 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a $0.335 dividend. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 35.83%.

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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at $724,285.20. This represents a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2,704.5% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter worth $10,507,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter worth $7,181,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 11.6% during the third 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 period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.4% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 708,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,983,000 after buying an additional 83,804 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.