Vest Financial LLC Buys 18,760 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 127.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,760 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.06% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $2,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFBS. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 15.7% during the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,566,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,932,000 after purchasing an additional 349,177 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 983,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,223,000 after purchasing an additional 9,618 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 762,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,093,000 after buying an additional 47,926 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,309,000. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 514,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,409,000 after buying an additional 48,993 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Hovde Group raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $89.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Zacks Research raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Raymond James Financial upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.00.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $86.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $73.73 and a 200 day moving average of $77.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $66.48 and a 12 month high of $93.90.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.20. The business 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%. On average, research analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.