Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $1.62 Million Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 22,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,624,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 523.6% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 111.1% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SFBS shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.33.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:SFBS opened at $88.84 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $79.67 and its 200 day moving average is $78.52. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.20 and a 1 year high of $90.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.04%.

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.