ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Rating Increased to Outperform at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Raymond James Financial currently has $95.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ServisFirst Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.00.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 0.5%

SFBS opened at $81.95 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.16 and a 200 day moving average of $78.55. The company has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.93 and a beta of 0.85. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 12 month low of $66.48 and a 12 month high of $101.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $132.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.26 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 24.62% and a return on equity of 15.47%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other news, CEO Thomas A. Broughton sold 22,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.99, for a total transaction of $1,953,905.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 592,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,141,818.12. This trade represents a 3.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ServisFirst Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SFBS. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at $991,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 14,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 7,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $637,000 after buying an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 21,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 41.6% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 18,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 5,574 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

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.