ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $91.99 and last traded at $90.6070, with a volume of 7763 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $90.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.33.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.28.

ServisFirst Bancshares shares are going to split on the morning of Friday, August 21st. The 2-1 split was announced on Monday, July 20th. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Thursday, August 20th.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57. The business had revenue of $168.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.85 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 30.95%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $670,908,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 307,426.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 919,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,011,000 after buying an additional 919,206 shares during the last quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $78,975,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth about $54,879,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,908,000. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

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.