Legal & General Group Plc Sells 4,933 Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 142,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,933 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $12,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 139,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,785,000 after purchasing an additional 14,382 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 20,642 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,749,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $5,859,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 153,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,984,000 after buying an additional 6,953 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $1,062,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,436 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,224.48. This represents a 50.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:SFBS opened at $69.50 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.43 and a 12-month high of $101.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 0.89.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 23.16%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

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.