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

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SFBS) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the quarter. 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 institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in ServisFirst Bancshares by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $93,126,000 after acquiring an additional 23,555 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $208,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 411.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 3,790 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ServisFirst Bancshares by 169.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in ServisFirst Bancshares by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 464,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,354,000 after buying an additional 36,711 shares in the last quarter. 67.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ServisFirst Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of ServisFirst Bancshares stock opened at $81.76 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $87.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.03. ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $58.11 and a one year high of $101.37. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. ServisFirst Bancshares had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 14.81%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Equities analysts expect that ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

ServisFirst Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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 shares were sold at an average price of $88.68, for a total value of $1,596,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,546,224.48. This represents a 50.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

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.