Copeland Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. $SFBS

Key Points

• Copeland Capital Management disclosed a new first-quarter stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, buying 753,526 shares worth about $54.9 million, or roughly 1.38% of the bank.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with several firms making large moves in SFBS and 67.31% of shares now held by institutions and hedge funds.
• Analysts remain broadly positive: the stock has a Buy consensus rating and a consensus price target of $94.33, while the company also recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share.

Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 753,526 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $54,879,000. ServisFirst Bancshares comprises approximately 1.2% of Copeland Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Copeland Capital Management LLC owned about 1.38% of ServisFirst Bancshares as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SFBS. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 307,426.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 919,505 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $66,011,000 after purchasing an additional 919,206 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at $47,908,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,081,945 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $436,623,000 after buying an additional 196,248 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 250.6% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 259,618 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,638,000 after acquiring an additional 185,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 31.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 667,781 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $53,776,000 after acquiring an additional 160,465 shares during the period. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on SFBS shares. Weiss Ratings raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $94.33.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of SFBS stock opened at $86.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $81.31 and a 200-day moving average of $79.52. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.20 and a 12-month high of $90.64.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.01. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.95% and a net margin of 28.80%.The business had revenue of $158.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.07 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 6.4 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. ServisFirst Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.04%.

ServisFirst Bancshares Profile

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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