ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Holdings Cut by Champlain Investment Partners LLC

Champlain Investment Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,380,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 40,478 shares during the quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $111,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 138.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4,880.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $84,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $220,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

NYSE SFBS opened at $96.64 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.72 and a 12 month high of $100.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.86.

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

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 32.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $966,960.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 307,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,805,505.46. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $724,285.20. This trade represents a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SFBS. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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.