ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on SFBS. Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Piper Sandler raised shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $89.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded ServisFirst Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.67.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

NYSE:SFBS opened at $75.48 on Friday. ServisFirst Bancshares has a one year low of $66.48 and a one year high of $90.64. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $80.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.47.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.20. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.36% and a net margin of 26.95%.The company had revenue of $162.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.82 million. Equities research analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 307,426.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 919,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,011,000 after buying an additional 919,206 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $47,908,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,566,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,932,000 after acquiring an additional 349,177 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 231.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 326,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,323,000 after acquiring an additional 228,187 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 962,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,483,000 after acquiring an additional 199,772 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About ServisFirst Bancshares

ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and the parent of ServisFirst Bank. The company specializes in commercial banking services, catering primarily to small and mid-sized businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs. Its product portfolio encompasses commercial real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other ancillary banking products designed to meet the financial needs of its clients.

ServisFirst Bank offers a full suite of deposit products, including interest-bearing checking, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan products.