Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.50.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SYBT shares. Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $53.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on Stock Yards Bancorp from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th.

Stock Yards Bancorp Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:SYBT opened at $59.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.72 and a beta of 0.83. Stock Yards Bancorp has a one year low of $36.93 and a one year high of $64.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.23.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $123.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $83.90 million. Stock Yards Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 21.99%. Sell-side analysts predict that Stock Yards Bancorp will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from Stock Yards Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Stock Yards Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David P. Heintzman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.27, for a total transaction of $373,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 107,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,667,248.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Richard A. Lechleiter bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $56.40 per share, with a total value of $36,660.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,680 shares in the company, valued at $320,352. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David P. Heintzman sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.27, for a total value of $373,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 107,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,667,248.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,757 shares of company stock worth $1,165,177. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Stock Yards Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SYBT. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Stock Yards Bancorp by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 144,617 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,446,000 after buying an additional 3,535 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Stock Yards Bancorp by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 212,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,925,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares during the last quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $3,226,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 905,258 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,612,000 after acquiring an additional 35,851 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.