State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Reduces Stock Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,051 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $2,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4,880.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 138.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth $84,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at about $217,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SFBS. Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of 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 target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $94.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29 and a beta of 0.86. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.72 and a 12-month high of $100.14. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.06.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $256.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.70 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 14.23%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.09%.

Insider Activity at ServisFirst Bancshares

In related news, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total transaction of $85,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $966,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 307,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,805,505.46. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.40% 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.