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

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $88.00.

SFBS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Hovde Group upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $89.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday. Zacks Research cut ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,696,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $217,130,000 after purchasing an additional 129,732 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.0% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 983,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,223,000 after purchasing an additional 9,618 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 26.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 962,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,483,000 after buying an additional 199,772 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 31.6% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 667,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,776,000 after buying an additional 160,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $47,309,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of SFBS stock opened at $72.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.96. ServisFirst Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $66.48 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 10th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 15.67%. The firm had revenue of $104.27 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 28.69%.

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.