Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Sells 4,690 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Key Points

• Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP has reduced its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. by 60.8%, owning 3,021 shares worth $249,000 after selling 4,690 shares in the 1st quarter.
• ServisFirst Bancshares recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.335, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.34 with a yield of 1.5%.
• The company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, slightly exceeding analyst expectations, despite total revenue falling below estimates.

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP cut its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) by 60.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,021 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,690 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP's holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 7.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 164,414 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,581,000 after buying an additional 11,194 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.0% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,466 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the first quarter worth approximately $991,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 21,961 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,814,000 after buying an additional 1,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,056,878 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $87,298,000 after buying an additional 3,405 shares during the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

ServisFirst Bancshares stock traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.88. 276,675 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 231,229. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.62 and a 200 day moving average of $79.04. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $66.48 and a 1-year high of $101.37. The company has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 19.45 and a beta of 0.85.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 24.62%.The firm had revenue of $132.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $90.50.

Insider Transactions at ServisFirst Bancshares

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, CEO Thomas A. Broughton sold 22,206 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.99, for a total transaction of $1,953,905.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 592,588 shares in the company, valued at $52,141,818.12. This represents a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 6.70% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.