Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.75.

Stock Yards Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SYBT opened at $67.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 0.62. Stock Yards Bancorp has a 52 week low of $60.75 and a 52 week high of $83.83. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $74.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $97.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $95.32 million. Stock Yards Bancorp had a net margin of 23.86% and a return on equity of 13.31%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Stock Yards Bancorp will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Stock Yards Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Stock Yards Bancorp’s payout ratio is 29.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James A. Hillebrand sold 2,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.32, for a total value of $180,137.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 107,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,939,569.44. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SYBT. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Stock Yards Bancorp by 26.4% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,358,138 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $93,793,000 after buying an additional 283,532 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 1,496.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,690 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,216,000 after purchasing an additional 109,382 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,698,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 4.9% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,278,442 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $88,289,000 after purchasing an additional 60,183 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 87.8% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 128,300 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,860,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.46% of the company’s stock.

About Stock Yards Bancorp

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services.