ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $88.00.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Raymond James Financial raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Hovde Group raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $89.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 19th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SFBS stock opened at $78.35 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78 and a beta of 0.93. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 1 year low of $66.48 and a 1 year high of $93.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($0.08). ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 15.67%. The company had revenue of $136.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $147.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. Research analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 32.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth $47,309,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 15.7% in the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,566,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,932,000 after acquiring an additional 349,177 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 231.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 326,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,323,000 after acquiring an additional 228,187 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 962,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,483,000 after purchasing an additional 199,772 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 667,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,776,000 after purchasing an additional 160,465 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

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.