ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

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

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Hovde Group upped 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 upped their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SFBS opened at $96.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $85.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.17. ServisFirst Bancshares has a one year low of $49.72 and a one year high of $100.14. The firm has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84 and a beta of 0.86.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $256.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.70 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.23% and a net margin of 21.16%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $93,126,000 after buying an additional 23,555 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.1% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 33,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,680,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 150.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,101,000 after purchasing an additional 60,517 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.4% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 48.8% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 76,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,123,000 after purchasing an additional 24,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

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.