Stonegate Investment Group LLC Has $74.06 Million Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Stonegate Investment Group LLC cut its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 919,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,968 shares during the quarter. ServisFirst Bancshares accounts for 1.7% of Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $74,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,566,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,932,000 after acquiring an additional 349,177 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC raised its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.0% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 983,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,223,000 after purchasing an additional 9,618 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.7% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 762,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,093,000 after purchasing an additional 47,926 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter worth $47,309,000. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 10.5% during the third quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 514,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,409,000 after buying an additional 48,993 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SFBS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Hovde Group raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $89.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.00.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

SFBS stock opened at $81.84 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.82. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.48 and a fifty-two week high of $93.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.17 and a beta of 0.93.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

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

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.