Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $79.70 and last traded at $79.70, with a volume of 9928 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $76.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SYBT shares. Hovde Group cut shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens downgraded shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Stock Yards Bancorp from $65.50 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stock Yards Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.25.

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 company has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a PE ratio of 21.27 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.06 and a 200 day moving average of $57.58.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $130.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.57 million. Stock Yards Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.00% and a net margin of 21.62%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Stock Yards Bancorp’s payout ratio is 34.07%.

Insider Transactions at Stock Yards Bancorp

In other Stock Yards Bancorp news, President Philip Poindexter sold 3,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.55, for a total value of $258,305.45. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 51,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,878,057.05. This trade represents a 6.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David P. Heintzman sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.07, for a total value of $170,289.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 29,786 shares in the company, valued at $1,878,603.02. This represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,769 shares of company stock valued at $2,241,375. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stock Yards Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SYBT. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Stock Yards Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 151.2% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,271 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,367 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $206,000. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in Stock Yards Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $219,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.46% of the company’s stock.

Stock Yards Bancorp Company Profile

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.