Short Interest in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Increases By 101.5%

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,203,487 shares, a growth of 101.5% from the August 15th total of 2,582,782 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 460,255 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 11.3 days. Approximately 5.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on SFBS shares. Wall Street Zen lowered ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $45.50 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $47.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of SFBS traded down $0.26 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 128,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 593,179. The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. ServisFirst Bancshares has a twelve month low of $33.60 and a twelve month high of $46.04.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.78. The company had revenue of $168.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.85 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 30.95% and a return on equity of 17.42%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFBS. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 38,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,351,000 after acquiring an additional 4,683 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter worth $130,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 26.3% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 152,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,226,000 after purchasing an additional 31,764 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 306.1% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $310,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company Profile

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Its principal subsidiary, ServisFirst Bank, provides banking and financial services to businesses, professionals and individuals.

ServisFirst Bank offers commercial and consumer lending, deposit accounts, cash and treasury management, online and mobile banking, mortgage services, and wealth management solutions. Its lending activities include commercial real estate, construction, commercial and industrial, residential mortgage and consumer loans.

Founded in 2005, ServisFirst Bancshares has expanded its banking operations across several Southeastern states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.