ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $94.3333.

A number of research firms have recently commented on SFBS. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their target price 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.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of SFBS stock opened at $75.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. ServisFirst Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $67.20 and a fifty-two week high of $90.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $75.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.46.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $158.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $162.07 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 28.80% and a return on equity of 16.95%. On average, analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 6.4 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 28.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFBS. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 214.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 523.6% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter worth $29,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 105.1% in the third 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 last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.