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

Zacks Research downgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

SFBS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Hovde Group reduced their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $70.89 on Wednesday. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 12 month low of $66.48 and a 12 month high of $101.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.18 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.30.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 10th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 25.24%.The firm had revenue of $104.27 million for the quarter. As a group, analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.69%.

Insider Transactions at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, CEO Thomas A. Broughton sold 22,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.99, for a total transaction of $1,953,905.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 592,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,141,818.12. This trade represents a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $207,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 106.9% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 66.7% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after buying an additional 4,355 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $1,541,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 5.7% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 23,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

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.