ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Shares Sold by Leavell Investment Management Inc.

Leavell Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 95,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,087 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $8,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,377,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $191,241,000 after acquiring an additional 60,683 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 11.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,037,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,466,000 after purchasing an additional 108,088 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 947,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,280,000 after purchasing an additional 112,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 708,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,983,000 after purchasing an additional 83,804 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price target 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.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE SFBS opened at $92.18 on Wednesday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.10 and a 12 month high of $101.37. The company has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.19.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 23.16%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is an increase from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.21%.

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.