ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Stock Bumped Down to Outperform by Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $45.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $50.00.

SFBS has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ServisFirst Bancshares has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.50.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $38.77 on Tuesday. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 52 week low of $33.60 and a 52 week high of $46.04. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of 13.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.99.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $168.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.85 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 30.95% and a return on equity of 17.42%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 25.94%.

Institutional Trading of ServisFirst Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SFBS. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $670,908,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,133,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,565,000 after acquiring an additional 10,008 shares in the last quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $78,975,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 1st quarter worth approximately $54,879,000. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 552,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,213,000 after purchasing an additional 70,298 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.