Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Downgraded by Hovde Group to Market Perform

Hovde Group downgraded shares of Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $68.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $67.00.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SYBT. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $65.50 price objective on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $64.00 price target (up from $54.00) on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Stock Yards Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.75.

Stock Yards Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SYBT opened at $66.51 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.69. Stock Yards Bancorp has a 52 week low of $36.93 and a 52 week high of $67.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68 and a beta of 0.82.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.06. Stock Yards Bancorp had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 12.18%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Stock Yards Bancorp will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. This is an increase from Stock Yards Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Stock Yards Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stock Yards Bancorp news, Director David P. Heintzman sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total transaction of $170,289.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 29,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,878,603.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Stock Yards Bancorp news, Director David P. Heintzman sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total transaction of $170,289.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,786 shares in the company, valued at $1,878,603.02. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David P. Heintzman sold 1,500 shares of Stock Yards Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.02, for a total value of $93,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,884,105.58. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,457 shares of company stock valued at $961,846. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stock Yards Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SYBT. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $195,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $206,000. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $219,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 8.5% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,879 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.46% of the company’s stock.

About Stock Yards Bancorp

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services.