ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on SFBS. Hovde Group raised their price objective 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. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of SFBS opened at $97.08 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $86.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.73. 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 has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.14 and a beta of 0.86. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 1-year low of $50.36 and a 1-year 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $256.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.70 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 14.23%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 32.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total value of $966,960.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 307,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,805,505.46. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $33,428,000 after buying an additional 400,694 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,699,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,228,000 after purchasing an additional 221,507 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $10,507,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,181,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $83,466,000 after purchasing an additional 108,088 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.