Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Takes $209,000 Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 7.2% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 74,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,120,000 after purchasing an additional 4,951 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 21,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 5,328 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,902,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $487,525,000 after buying an additional 187,715 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 539,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,561,000 after buying an additional 18,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the first quarter valued at approximately $12,726,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

SFBS stock opened at $71.13 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.23 and a beta of 0.87. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $66.48 and a 1-year high of $98.50.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 10th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $104.27 million during the quarter. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 15.67% and a net margin of 25.24%. As a group, research analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on SFBS. Zacks Research lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Raymond James Financial upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Hovde Group dropped their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Monday, November 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares 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.