The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys New Shares in Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. $SYBT

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 207,240 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $15,848,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.67% of Stock Yards Bancorp as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $165,219,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Stock Yards Bancorp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 187,691 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,191,000 after acquiring an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Stock Yards Bancorp by 47.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 183,724 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,859,000 after acquiring an additional 58,942 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Stock Yards Bancorp by 691.5% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 178,002 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,561,000 after acquiring an additional 155,512 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Stock Yards Bancorp by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 158,189 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,274,000 after acquiring an additional 12,976 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stock Yards Bancorp news, Director Laura L. Wells sold 6,823 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.29, for a total value of $588,756.67. Following the sale, the director owned 9,580 shares in the company, valued at $826,658.20. The trade was a 41.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SYBT. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Stephens set a $87.00 target price on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $81.00 target price (up from $78.00) on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Stock Yards Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stock Yards Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.00.

Stock Yards Bancorp Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SYBT opened at $79.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.51 and a 1 year high of $89.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.90 and a beta of 0.68.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The bank reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.23. Stock Yards Bancorp had a net margin of 25.41% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $114.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.66 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 21st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from Stock Yards Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Stock Yards Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 25.50%.

About Stock Yards Bancorp

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, operating through its principal subsidiary, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co As a community-oriented financial institution, the company offers a full suite of banking services tailored to individual consumers, small to mid-sized businesses, and municipalities. Its mission centers on fostering long-term client relationships through personalized service, local decision-making, and a commitment to sustainable growth in the markets it serves.

The bank’s core products include a variety of deposit accounts ranging from personal checking and savings to commercial money market and time deposit offerings.