Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC cut its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,550 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $13,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $162,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.7% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 5,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 28,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,210,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.4% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 34,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 14,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,168,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SFBS. Zacks Research raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial raised ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Piper Sandler upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ServisFirst Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 1.1%

SFBS opened at $74.88 on Wednesday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $66.48 and a 12 month high of $90.64. The business has a 50-day moving average of $80.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.27. 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 $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80 and a beta of 0.91.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend 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.