B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Invests $1.47 Million in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 18,290 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,471,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares during the first quarter worth about $2,125,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,230,925 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $77,775,000 after purchasing an additional 36,302 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 286.8% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 64,066 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,048,000 after purchasing an additional 47,502 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 42.2% in the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 156,633 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,898,000 after purchasing an additional 46,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $408,000. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total value of $85,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at $724,285.20. This trade represents a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $966,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 307,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,805,505.46. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Hovde Group upped their price objective 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. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Up 3.6 %

SFBS traded up $3.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $96.64. 260,868 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 238,801. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $85.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.09. The company has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84 and a beta of 0.86. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.72 and a fifty-two week high of $100.14. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $256.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.70 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 14.23%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.09%.

ServisFirst Bancshares 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.