ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Receives $93.67 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $93.6667.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th.

Institutional Trading of ServisFirst Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFBS. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 214.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 523.6% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter worth $29,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 105.1% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Up 0.8%

SFBS stock opened at $73.73 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.89. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 1-year low of $66.48 and a 1-year high of $90.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.49.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 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.