Norges Bank Makes New $47.46 Million Investment in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 560,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,456,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.03% of ServisFirst Bancshares at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,178,000. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 7,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,714,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $484,249,000 after buying an additional 25,956 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 16,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 3,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $873,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SFBS. StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total transaction of $1,596,240.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,546,224.48. This trade represents a 50.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $70.60 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.14. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $58.11 and a 52-week high of $101.37. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.97 and a beta of 0.89.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 14.81%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.21%.

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.