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

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $94.3333.

A number of research firms recently commented on SFBS. Zacks Research downgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFBS. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 523.6% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 17.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE SFBS opened at $86.11 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 12 month low of $67.20 and a 12 month high of $90.64. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $80.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.36.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $158.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $162.07 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 28.80% and a return on equity of 16.95%. As a group, research analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 6.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.04%.

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.