Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $71.73 Million Stock Holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 984,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 33,416 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $71,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 523.6% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

SFBS opened at $88.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.20 and a 52-week high of $90.64. The firm has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $81.16 and its 200-day moving average is $79.46.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.01. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.95% and a net margin of 28.80%.The business had revenue of $158.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $162.07 million. Sell-side analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 6.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research cut ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $94.33.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company Profile

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and the parent of ServisFirst Bank. The company specializes in commercial banking services, catering primarily to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs. Its product portfolio encompasses commercial real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other ancillary banking products designed to meet the financial needs of its clients.

ServisFirst Bank offers a full suite of deposit products, including interest-bearing checking, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan products.