ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Stock Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)’s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $40.76 and traded as high as $43.38. ServisFirst Bancshares shares last traded at $43.18, with a volume of 380,517 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SFBS shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $45.50 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.76. The firm has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.71 and a beta of 0.85.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78. The firm had revenue of $168.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.85 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 30.95%. On average, analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 3,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $737,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 8,886.1% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,162,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $447,854,000 after buying an additional 5,105,128 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.9% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,818,000 after buying an additional 1,353 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.