Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Sells 2,531 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. trimmed its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 79,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,531 shares during the period. ServisFirst Bancshares makes up about 1.3% of Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $6,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 34.0% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,438,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,484,000 after buying an additional 364,720 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,699,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,228,000 after purchasing an additional 221,507 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,507,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,181,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 11.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,037,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,466,000 after purchasing an additional 108,088 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at ServisFirst Bancshares

In related news, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total value of $85,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at $724,285.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total transaction of $85,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $724,285.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $966,960.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 307,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,805,505.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock traded up $2.28 on Friday, reaching $95.98. The stock had a trading volume of 252,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,707. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.06 and a 1 year high of $98.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $82.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66 and a beta of 0.86.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $256.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on SFBS. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Hovde Group boosted their price target on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

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.