Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $738,000 in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $738,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 411.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 3,790 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $83,466,000 after acquiring an additional 108,088 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 2,080 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $93,126,000 after purchasing an additional 23,555 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total value of $85,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at $724,285.20. The trade was a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hovde Group upped their price target on 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 upped 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of SFBS opened at $87.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $90.81 and a 200 day moving average of $82.60. The company has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 0.91. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.05 and a 12 month high of $101.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $256.53 million during 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 last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.335 dividend. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. This is a boost from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 35.83%.

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.