ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Sunday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Hovde Group lifted their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 1.8 %

SFBS opened at $97.24 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $86.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.50. ServisFirst Bancshares has a twelve month low of $49.72 and a twelve month high of $101.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50 and a beta of 0.86.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $256.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.70 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.23% and a net margin of 21.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Research analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $966,960.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 307,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,805,505.46. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total value of $85,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $724,285.20. This represents a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ServisFirst Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 138.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4,880.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter worth $84,000. Finally, LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter worth $203,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.