Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Sells 3,700 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. cut its position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 8.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,700 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $3,361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $440,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 82,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,654,000 after buying an additional 16,219 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 5.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 9.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 491,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,567,000 after acquiring an additional 43,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $220,000. 67.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $966,960.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 307,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,805,505.46. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $724,285.20. This represents 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 Trading Down 0.2 %

ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $97.08 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.73. The company has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96 and a beta of 0.86. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.36 and a 52 week high of $101.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $256.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on SFBS shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $80.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

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.