Comerica Bank Reduces Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Comerica Bank lowered its position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) by 14.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,773 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,617 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $1,798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SFBS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,902,237 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $487,525,000 after purchasing an additional 187,715 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 25.1% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,072,614 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $88,598,000 after acquiring an additional 214,879 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 3,405 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 632,066 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $53,561,000 after purchasing an additional 38,916 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 539,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $44,561,000 after purchasing an additional 18,415 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Thomas A. Broughton sold 22,206 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 592,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at $52,141,818.12. This represents a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Performance

ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $87.52 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $82.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $66.48 and a one year high of $101.37.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.

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