ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Director Christopher J. Mettler Sells 18,000 Shares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total transaction of $1,596,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,546,224.48. This represents a 50.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 0.6 %

SFBS opened at $88.53 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.10 and a twelve month high of $101.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.28 and a beta of 0.91.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 14.81%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 761.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 169.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th.

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.