JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reduces Stock Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS - Free Report) by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 855,045 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 693,513 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 1.57% of ServisFirst Bancshares worth $68,788,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SFBS. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,215 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,036,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.5% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,383 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 3.9% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,553 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,131 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,725,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company's stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:SFBS traded up $0.73 on Friday, hitting $84.32. 158,551 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 244,126. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $91.26 and a 200-day moving average of $81.07. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 0.88. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.05 and a fifty-two week high of $101.37.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $256.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.70 million. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 21.16% and a return on equity of 14.23%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.335 per share. This is a positive change from ServisFirst Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. ServisFirst Bancshares's payout ratio is presently 35.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SFBS. 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. StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $724,285.20. This trade represents a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 7.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.