Meridian Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 146,508 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $9,082,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Stock Yards Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $30,255,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Stock Yards Bancorp by 163.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 142,455 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,076,000 after purchasing an additional 88,364 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 534.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 43,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 36,269 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its stake in Stock Yards Bancorp by 17.3% in the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 192,099 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,542,000 after buying an additional 28,400 shares during the period. Finally, RPS Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Stock Yards Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $1,358,000. 56.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Stock Yards Bancorp from $65.50 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Hovde Group lowered Stock Yards Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $67.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens downgraded Stock Yards Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stock Yards Bancorp news, EVP Michael Rehm sold 2,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.81, for a total transaction of $198,246.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,927 shares in the company, valued at $1,266,308.87. This trade represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David P. Heintzman sold 7,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total value of $505,340.82. Following the transaction, the director now owns 99,411 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,559,137.78. This trade represents a 7.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,350 shares of company stock valued at $1,983,069. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Stock Yards Bancorp Stock Performance

SYBT opened at $73.91 on Friday. Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $42.35 and a 12-month high of $77.82. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50 day moving average of $65.43 and a 200-day moving average of $57.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $130.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.57 million. Stock Yards Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.00% and a net margin of 21.62%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Stock Yards Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 34.07%.

Stock Yards Bancorp Profile

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services.