ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on SFBS. Raymond James Financial raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ServisFirst Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 0.7%

SFBS opened at $74.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 0.91. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 12 month low of $66.48 and a 12 month high of $90.64.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.36% and a net margin of 26.95%.The firm had revenue of $162.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.82 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.04%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 5,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 34,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company Profile

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and the parent of ServisFirst Bank. The company specializes in commercial banking services, catering primarily to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs. Its product portfolio encompasses commercial real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other ancillary banking products designed to meet the financial needs of its clients.

ServisFirst Bank offers a full suite of deposit products, including interest-bearing checking, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan products.