Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 10.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,894,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 325,409 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned about 5.31% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $182,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 403,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,854,000 after buying an additional 14,739 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,136,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,736,000 after purchasing an additional 47,457 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $36,103,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at $210,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 48,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,230,000 after buying an additional 17,834 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

NYSE SFBS opened at $84.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.21 and a 1-year high of $86.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.79.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.04. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 21.25% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The business had revenue of $114.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.80 million. Equities analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on SFBS shares. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $966,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 307,837 shares in the company, valued at $24,805,505.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

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.