Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Invests $1.02 Million in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 12,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,018,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 34.0% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,438,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,484,000 after acquiring an additional 364,720 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 4.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,699,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,228,000 after purchasing an additional 221,507 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,507,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,181,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,037,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,466,000 after purchasing an additional 108,088 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other ServisFirst Bancshares news, COO Rodney Eldon Rushing sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total value of $966,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 307,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,805,505.46. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Henry Fulbrook Abbott sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.20, for a total transaction of $85,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,501 shares in the company, valued at $724,285.20. This represents a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 1.3 %

SFBS stock opened at $94.70 on Friday. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.72 and a 1-year high of $100.14. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.32 and a beta of 0.86.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released 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 firm had revenue of $256.53 million for 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Hovde Group boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

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.