Vanguard Group Inc. Has $473.98 Million Stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 1.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,885,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 62,112 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $473,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 214.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 105.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 21.8% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 20.3% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Hovde Group raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $89.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $91.00.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of SFBS opened at $86.02 on Thursday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $66.48 and a 12 month high of $93.43. The stock has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $79.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $162.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.82 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.36% and a net margin of 26.95%. Equities analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 30.04%.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company 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.