ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (SFBS) – What Are Researchers Saying About This Stock?

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.50.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SFBS shares. Weiss Ratings raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial lowered ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFBS. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 91.6% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

SFBS stock traded down $0.25 on Friday, hitting $39.31. The company had a trading volume of 683,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 713,930. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 12-month low of $33.60 and a 12-month high of $46.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.08. The stock has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 0.91.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78. The business had revenue of $168.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.85 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 30.95% and a return on equity of 17.42%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.94%.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for ServisFirst Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Founded in 2005, the company provides banking services primarily to businesses, professionals, and individuals through a relationship-focused operating model.

ServisFirst Bank offers commercial and consumer lending, deposit accounts, cash-management and treasury services, online and mobile banking, mortgage lending, and wealth-management solutions.