Vest Financial LLC Takes Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Vest Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 14,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 68.9% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,217,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $183,153,000 after purchasing an additional 904,445 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,072,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,598,000 after purchasing an additional 214,879 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,902,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $487,525,000 after purchasing an additional 187,715 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at $12,726,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at $7,936,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on SFBS. Raymond James Financial raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas A. Broughton sold 22,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.99, for a total transaction of $1,953,905.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 592,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,141,818.12. The trade was a 3.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE:SFBS opened at $79.76 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.30 and its 200-day moving average is $78.42. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $66.48 and a 52-week high of $101.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 0.85.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 10th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 24.62% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The company had revenue of $104.27 million for the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 29.32%.

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.