Hovde Group Upgrades ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) to Outperform

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Hovde Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $89.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Hovde Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.93% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on SFBS. Raymond James Financial raised ServisFirst Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServisFirst Bancshares in a research report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.00.

ServisFirst Bancshares Stock Down 1.7%

SFBS stock opened at $72.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63 and a beta of 0.94. ServisFirst Bancshares has a 52 week low of $66.48 and a 52 week high of $93.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $72.28 and a 200 day moving average of $77.94.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 10th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $104.27 million during the quarter. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 25.24% and a return on equity of 15.67%. Sell-side analysts forecast that ServisFirst Bancshares will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServisFirst Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 68.9% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,217,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $183,153,000 after buying an additional 904,445 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $47,309,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 199,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 667,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,776,000 after purchasing an additional 160,465 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.31% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Company 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.