ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $45.50 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $47.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 3.7%

ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $41.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. ServisFirst Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $33.60 and a fifty-two week high of $46.04. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.77. The company has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.13 and a beta of 0.85.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78. The business had revenue of $168.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.85 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 30.95% and a return on equity of 17.42%. Equities research analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 25.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at $54,879,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,081,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $436,623,000 after buying an additional 196,248 shares during the last quarter. Navigate Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth $932,000. Jacobs Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $7,179,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth $1,056,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company Profile

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and the parent of ServisFirst Bank. The company specializes in commercial banking services, catering primarily to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs. Its product portfolio encompasses commercial real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other ancillary banking products designed to meet the financial needs of its clients.

ServisFirst Bank offers a full suite of deposit products, including interest-bearing checking, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan products.