Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 180 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SFBS. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 83.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,141,000 after acquiring an additional 11,495 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 65,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,592,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC bought a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth $842,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 8,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 1,355 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total value of $1,596,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,546,224.48. This trade represents a 50.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SFBS. StockNews.com raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $70.60 on Monday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.11 and a twelve month high of $101.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $86.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97 and a beta of 0.89.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.21%.

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.