ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Shares Sold by Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,477,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 202,332 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned about 4.54% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $209,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFBS. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $69,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 761.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 169.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th.

Insider Transactions at ServisFirst Bancshares

In related news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 17,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,546,224.48. This trade represents a 50.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SFBS opened at $69.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.22. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.43 and a 12 month high of $101.37.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its 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 period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a $0.335 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.