Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Increases Position in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 893 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares were worth $654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 30.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 13,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after buying an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in ServisFirst Bancshares by 6.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 48,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,866,000 after acquiring an additional 2,794 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 88.5% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 12,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $980,000 after acquiring an additional 5,721 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in ServisFirst Bancshares in the third quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 9.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 491,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,567,000 after purchasing an additional 43,844 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SFBS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on ServisFirst Bancshares from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ServisFirst Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christopher J. Mettler sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total value of $1,596,240.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,436 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,224.48. This represents a 50.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of SFBS opened at $81.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $87.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.03. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.11 and a 1-year high of $101.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 0.91.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a return on equity of 14.81% and a net margin of 23.16%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. ServisFirst Bancshares’s payout ratio is 32.21%.

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.