Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Increases Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,550 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,950 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.26% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $11,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,456,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 106.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 857,735 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $72,684,000 after buying an additional 442,225 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $19,639,000. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 947,367 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $80,280,000 after buying an additional 112,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,037,557 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $83,466,000 after acquiring an additional 108,088 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,546,224.48. This represents a 50.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SFBS shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Down 1.0 %

ServisFirst Bancshares stock traded down $0.71 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $68.79. The company had a trading volume of 110,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 224,436. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.43 and a 1-year high of $101.37. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $80.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.20.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.18 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $131.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.13 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 23.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 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.