Citigroup Inc. Purchases 16,219 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 24.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,219 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.15% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $6,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SFBS. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4,880.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 138.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $84,000. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 8.7% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Insider Transactions at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total value of $966,960.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 307,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,805,505.46. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total transaction of $85,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of SFBS stock opened at $95.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.61 and a beta of 0.86. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $87.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.31. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $50.56 and a one year high of $101.37.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.09%.

ServisFirst Bancshares Profile

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.