ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on SFBS. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 30th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ServisFirst Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.50.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE SFBS opened at $39.81 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.17. ServisFirst Bancshares has a twelve month low of $33.60 and a twelve month high of $46.04. The company has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 0.91.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.03). ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 32.53%. The firm had revenue of $172.93 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.13 million. Research analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $670,908,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 94.8% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,448,000 after acquiring an additional 699,425 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,133,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,565,000 after acquiring an additional 10,008 shares in the last quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $78,975,000. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 14.6% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 552,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,213,000 after buying an additional 70,298 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Its principal subsidiary, ServisFirst Bank, provides commercial and consumer banking services to businesses, professionals and individuals.

The bank offers deposit accounts, commercial and residential real estate lending, business loans, treasury management, private banking, mortgage services and wealth management. It emphasizes relationship-based banking and serves clients through banking offices and digital channels.

Founded in 2005, ServisFirst Bank has expanded beyond Alabama into markets including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.