WINTON GROUP Ltd Purchases New Holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,178,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SFBS. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $93,126,000 after acquiring an additional 23,555 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $208,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 411.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 3,790 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 169.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 521,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,155,000 after buying an additional 29,247 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on SFBS shares. StockNews.com upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Transactions at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total transaction of $1,596,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE SFBS opened at $81.91 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $58.11 and a one year high of $101.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69 and a beta of 0.91.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 32.21%.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

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.