Victory Capital Management Inc. Buys 400,694 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 2,704.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 415,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 400,694 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $33,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SFBS. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the first quarter worth about $2,125,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,230,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,775,000 after acquiring an additional 36,302 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 286.8% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 64,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,048,000 after acquiring an additional 47,502 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 156,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,898,000 after acquiring an additional 46,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter valued at $408,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $966,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 307,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,805,505.46. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total value of $85,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $724,285.20. The trade was a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE SFBS opened at $94.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.06. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.72 and a 1 year high of $100.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.13. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.23% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $256.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on SFBS. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of 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.