First Trust Advisors LP Has $42.52 Million Stock Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 61.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 528,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 201,309 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.97% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $42,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.3% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of 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. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 28,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,210,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,753,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 14,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial raised ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE SFBS opened at $71.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.17 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.48 and a twelve month high of $90.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.20.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $151.82 million. Sell-side analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 30.04%.

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.