Cerity Partners LLC Invests $440,000 in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,471 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SFBS. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 4,880.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 996 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of 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. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $84,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,328 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFBS has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, November 24th. Hovde Group raised their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total value of $966,960.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 307,837 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,805,505.46. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $724,285.20. The trade was a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SFBS traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $94.46. The stock had a trading volume of 180,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 202,419. The company has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.45 and a beta of 0.88. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.83 and a 12-month high of $101.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $88.56 and a 200-day moving average of $77.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 14.23% and a net margin of 21.16%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.09%.

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.