Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Shares of Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . 1,174,199 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 585% from the previous session’s volume of 171,394 shares.The stock last traded at $75.40 and had previously closed at $75.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SYBT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Stock Yards Bancorp from $65.50 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Hovde Group lowered shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Stephens downgraded shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th.

Stock Yards Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $73.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.42.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.08. Stock Yards Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.71% and a net margin of 22.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Stock Yards Bancorp’s payout ratio is 31.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David P. Heintzman sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.10, for a total transaction of $273,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,411 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,672,199.10. This trade represents a 14.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael Rehm sold 2,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.81, for a total transaction of $198,246.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,266,308.87. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,614 shares of company stock valued at $1,687,926 in the last 90 days. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Stock Yards Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SYBT. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Stock Yards Bancorp by 115.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 485 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Stock Yards Bancorp by 126.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 846 shares of the bank’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Stock Yards Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 151.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,271 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares during the period. 56.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.