ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $45.50 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

SFBS opened at $43.31 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.77. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 12-month low of $33.60 and a 12-month high of $46.04. The firm has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.78. The company had revenue of $168.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.85 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 30.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter worth $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter valued at $43,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.