Citigroup Inc. Sells 30,396 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Key Points

• Citigroup trimmed its stake in ServisFirst by 43.1%, selling 30,396 shares in Q3 and retaining 40,199 shares (about 0.07% of the company) valued at roughly $3.24 million.
• Analyst upgrades have lifted sentiment to a consensus "Buy" with a $93.67 average target, after firms including Piper Sandler, Raymond James, Hovde and Zacks raised ratings or price targets.
• Company fundamentals remain solid: quarterly EPS of $1.58 beat estimates by $0.20, revenue topped expectations, and the quarterly dividend was raised to $0.38 (annualized $1.52, ~1.9% yield).

Citigroup Inc. trimmed its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) by 43.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,199 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 30,396 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.07% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $3,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SFBS. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 214.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 105.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,356 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $89.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Hovde Group increased their price objective on ServisFirst Bancshares from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE SFBS opened at $79.17 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $80.73 and its 200-day moving average is $78.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 0.91. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $66.48 and a one year high of $90.64.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $162.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.82 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 26.95% and a return on equity of 16.36%. Equities research analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. ServisFirst Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.04%.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and the parent of ServisFirst Bank. The company specializes in commercial banking services, catering primarily to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs. Its product portfolio encompasses commercial real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other ancillary banking products designed to meet the financial needs of its clients.

ServisFirst Bank offers a full suite of deposit products, including interest-bearing checking, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan products.

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