Insider Selling: ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Director Sells 18,000 Shares of Stock

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total value of $1,596,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,436 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,224.48. This trade represents a 50.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $88.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $88.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.44. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.10 and a 52 week high of $101.37.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 23.16%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 32.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $69,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 169.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 761.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on SFBS shares. StockNews.com upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for ServisFirst Bank that provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers. It accepts demand, time, savings, and other deposits; checking, money market, and IRA accounts; and certificates of deposit. The company's loan products include commercial lending products, including seasonal, bridge, and term loans for working capital, expansion of the business, acquisition of property, and plant and equipment, as well as commercial lines of credit; commercial real estate loans, construction and development loans, and residential real estate loans; and consumer loans, such as home equity loans, vehicle financing, loans secured by deposits, and secured and unsecured personal loans.