ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $46.50

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.50.

A number of research firms have weighed in on SFBS. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $50.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 6th.

Institutional Trading of ServisFirst Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFBS. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $670,908,000. Davis Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $78,975,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the first quarter valued at $54,879,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the first quarter valued at $33,348,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $35,791,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE:SFBS traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.31. 683,276 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 713,930. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.08. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 1 year low of $33.60 and a 1 year high of $46.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 0.91.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.78. The firm had revenue of $168.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.85 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 30.95%. Analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 1st were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 25.94%.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for ServisFirst Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Founded in 2005, the company provides banking services primarily to businesses, professionals, and individuals through a relationship-focused operating model.

ServisFirst Bank offers commercial and consumer lending, deposit accounts, cash-management and treasury services, online and mobile banking, mortgage lending, and wealth-management solutions.