Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 8,296 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 101.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,296 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $1,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $402,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 2,737 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 101,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,632,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 53,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,522,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

NYSE:SFBS opened at $81.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69 and a beta of 0.91. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.11 and a 1-year high of $101.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.11. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 14.81%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServisFirst Bancshares

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

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.