Rhumbline Advisers Sells 4,369 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Rhumbline Advisers lessened its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 142,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,369 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.26% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $12,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SFBS. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter worth $32,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $69,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter valued at about $208,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SFBS. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th.

Insider Activity at ServisFirst Bancshares

In related news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 at this hyperlink. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

SFBS opened at $86.43 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.78 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.96. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.10 and a 12-month high of $101.37.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.335 dividend. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.21%.

ServisFirst Bancshares Profile

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.