ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS Shares Purchased by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 600.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 76,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 65,349 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $5,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SFBS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 valued at $77,483,000 after acquiring an additional 199,772 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $443,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $144,000. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $265,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFBS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of SFBS opened at $73.25 on Thursday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $66.48 and a 52-week high of $90.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.77. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 0.91.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 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.