New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $1,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $93,126,000 after purchasing an additional 23,555 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $208,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 411.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 3,790 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2,704.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 415,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,428,000 after purchasing an additional 400,694 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 766.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 7,630 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $86.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.00 and a 200 day moving average of $85.96. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.78 and a beta of 0.91. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.10 and a 1 year high of $101.37.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ServisFirst Bancshares 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,546,224.48. This trade represents a 50.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.