Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $77.82 and last traded at $77.65, with a volume of 6868 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $76.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $67.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $65.50 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $64.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Stock Yards Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.75.

Stock Yards Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 0.81.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.06. Stock Yards Bancorp had a net margin of 21.62% and a return on equity of 12.00%. The business had revenue of $130.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.57 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from Stock Yards Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Stock Yards Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.07%.

Insider Transactions at Stock Yards Bancorp

In related news, Director David P. Heintzman sold 2,700 shares of Stock Yards Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total value of $170,289.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,786 shares in the company, valued at $1,878,603.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director David P. Heintzman sold 2,341 shares of Stock Yards Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.05, for a total value of $154,623.05. Following the sale, the director now owns 97,070 shares in the company, valued at $6,411,473.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David P. Heintzman sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total value of $170,289.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,878,603.02. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,700 shares of company stock worth $1,054,023. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stock Yards Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Stock Yards Bancorp by 0.8% during the second quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,223,176 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,755,000 after buying an additional 9,573 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Stock Yards Bancorp by 4.5% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,168,256 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,139,000 after buying an additional 50,730 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Stock Yards Bancorp by 2.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 936,919 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,536,000 after buying an additional 24,856 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Stock Yards Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $30,255,000. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC lifted its position in Stock Yards Bancorp by 3.9% during the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 250,369 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,520,000 after buying an additional 9,291 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.46% of the company’s stock.

Stock Yards Bancorp Company Profile

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services.