Welch Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Welch Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,035,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 103,615 shares during the period. ServisFirst Bancshares makes up approximately 4.0% of Welch Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $88,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFBS. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,377,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $191,241,000 after buying an additional 60,683 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $93,126,000 after acquiring an additional 23,555 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,037,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,466,000 after acquiring an additional 108,088 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 947,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,280,000 after acquiring an additional 112,521 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 708,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,983,000 after acquiring an additional 83,804 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of SFBS stock opened at $88.45 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.73. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $58.05 and a one year high of $101.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.26 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 14.81%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. On average, analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. This is a boost from ServisFirst Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on SFBS. Hovde Group upped their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company 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.