Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Sunday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Stock Yards Bancorp from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.75.

Stock Yards Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of SYBT opened at $66.47 on Friday. Stock Yards Bancorp has a twelve month low of $60.75 and a twelve month high of $83.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.63 and a 200 day moving average of $74.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $97.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.32 million. Stock Yards Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 23.86%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Stock Yards Bancorp will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Stock Yards Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Stock Yards Bancorp’s payout ratio is 29.43%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James A. Hillebrand sold 2,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.32, for a total transaction of $180,137.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 107,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,939,569.44. This represents a 1.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Stock Yards Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Chatham Capital Group Inc. raised its position in Stock Yards Bancorp by 6.5% in the third quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. now owns 47,949 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,356,000 after acquiring an additional 2,939 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 76.1% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 13,356 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 5,770 shares in the last quarter. American Trust raised its holdings in Stock Yards Bancorp by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Trust now owns 6,880 shares of the bank’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in Stock Yards Bancorp by 412.3% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 32,114 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,536,000 after purchasing an additional 25,845 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in Stock Yards Bancorp by 6.6% during the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 9,983 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. 56.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Stock Yards Bancorp

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services.