ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Upgraded at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $95.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on SFBS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $89.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.00.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SFBS opened at $81.98 on Wednesday. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 1 year low of $66.48 and a 1 year high of $93.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.88.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.36% and a net margin of 26.95%.The firm had revenue of $162.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.82 million. As a group, research analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 30.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SFBS. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 214.1% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 105.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

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.