Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Hits New 1-Year High at $64.56

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $64.56 and last traded at $64.42, with a volume of 1375819 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $62.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SYBT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $64.00 price target (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $65.50 price objective on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $53.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.88.

Stock Yards Bancorp Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $123.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $83.90 million. Stock Yards Bancorp had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 12.18%. Research analysts forecast that Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Stock Yards Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. Stock Yards Bancorp’s payout ratio is 34.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Richard A. Lechleiter bought 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $56.40 per share, for a total transaction of $36,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $320,352. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Stock Yards Bancorp news, Director Richard A. Lechleiter purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $56.40 per share, with a total value of $36,660.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,352. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David P. Heintzman sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,757 shares of company stock worth $1,165,177. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stock Yards Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 10.3% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,294 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 534.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 43,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,139,000 after buying an additional 36,269 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 17.3% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 192,099 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,542,000 after buying an additional 28,400 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 11.3% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 23,568 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after buying an additional 2,389 shares during the period. 56.46% of the stock is 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.