ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) Shares Acquired by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC lifted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 105,819 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,131 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.19% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $8,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 761.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 169.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 747 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,326 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.31% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total value of $1,596,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,436 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,224.48. This trade represents a 50.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SFBS shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $96.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE SFBS opened at $69.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 0.89. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $80.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.08. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.43 and a 12-month high of $101.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by ($0.02). ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $131.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a $0.335 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. ServisFirst Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.21%.

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.

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