State Street Corp Grows Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,377,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 60,683 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 4.36% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $191,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SFBS. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 103.8% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 5,258 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 8.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 202,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,773,000 after purchasing an additional 14,908 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 24,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 472,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,876,000 after purchasing an additional 7,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 929,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,733,000 after acquiring an additional 43,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

NYSE SFBS opened at $93.66 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $89.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.11. The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.18 and a 52 week high of $101.37.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $256.53 million for 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 32.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 owns 307,837 shares in the company, valued at $24,805,505.46. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total transaction of $85,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $724,285.20. This trade represents a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on SFBS. Piper Sandler boosted 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 24th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

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.