Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Lowers Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,700 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. owned 0.08% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $3,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 4,880.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 138.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $84,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total value of $966,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 307,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,805,505.46. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total value of $85,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $724,285.20. This represents a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SFBS shares. Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of SFBS stock opened at $97.08 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $86.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.73. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.36 and a 52-week high of $101.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.96 and a beta of 0.86.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $256.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.70 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.23% and a net margin of 21.16%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.09%.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company Profile

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ServisFirst Bank that provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers. It accepts demand, time, savings, and other deposits; checking, money market, and IRA accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company's loan products include commercial lending products, including seasonal, bridge, and term loans for working capital, expansion of the business, acquisition of property, and plant and equipment, as well as commercial lines of credit; commercial real estate loans, construction and development loans, and residential real estate loans; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans, vehicle financing, loans secured by deposits, and secured and unsecured personal loans.