ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS Stake Reduced by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,885,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 62,112 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.78% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $473,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 15.7% during the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,566,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,932,000 after buying an additional 349,177 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 983,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,223,000 after acquiring an additional 9,618 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 26.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 962,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,483,000 after purchasing an additional 199,772 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $47,309,000. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 514,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,409,000 after purchasing an additional 48,993 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial raised ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Hovde Group raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $89.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ServisFirst Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.00.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of SFBS stock opened at $86.02 on Thursday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.48 and a fifty-two week high of $93.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $79.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00 and a beta of 0.94.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $162.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.82 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.36% and a net margin of 26.95%. Analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.04%.

ServisFirst Bancshares Profile

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and the parent of ServisFirst Bank. The company specializes in commercial banking services, catering primarily to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs. Its product portfolio encompasses commercial real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other ancillary banking products designed to meet the financial needs of its clients.

ServisFirst Bank offers a full suite of deposit products, including interest-bearing checking, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan products.