Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.63 Million Investment in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBS)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFBS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 24,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,632,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $67,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 223.2% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 7.0% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ SFBS opened at $60.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.27 and a 52 week high of $70.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $63.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.88.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 24.52% and a return on equity of 15.48%. The firm had revenue of $109.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.00 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 31.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFBS has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Profile

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ServisFirst Bank that provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers. It accepts demand, time, savings, and other deposits; checking, money market, and IRA accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company's loan products include commercial lending products, including seasonal, bridge, and term loans for working capital, expansion of the business, acquisition of property, and plant and equipment, as well as commercial lines of credit; commercial real estate loans, construction and development loans, and residential real estate loans; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans, vehicle financing, loans secured by deposits, and secured and unsecured personal loans.