Blue Trust Inc. Lowers Holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 24.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,205 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $2,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 7,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 947,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,280,000 after purchasing an additional 112,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFBS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hovde Group increased their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th.

Insider Activity at ServisFirst Bancshares

In related news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total transaction of $1,596,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,546,224.48. This represents a 50.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 0.6 %

SFBS opened at $88.53 on Friday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $58.10 and a one year high of $101.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.44.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 23.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This is an increase from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.21%.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company 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.