Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 1,199,380 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 983% from the previous session’s volume of 110,747 shares.The stock last traded at $71.06 and had previously closed at $73.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Hovde Group lowered shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from $65.50 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Stock Yards Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th.

Stock Yards Bancorp Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $72.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.06. Stock Yards Bancorp had a net margin of 21.62% and a return on equity of 12.00%. The firm had revenue of $130.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.57 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.8 EPS for the current year.

Stock Yards Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Stock Yards Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 34.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David P. Heintzman sold 7,659 shares of Stock Yards Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.98, for a total value of $505,340.82. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 99,411 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,559,137.78. This trade represents a 7.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Rehm sold 2,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.81, for a total transaction of $198,246.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,266,308.87. This trade represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,614 shares of company stock worth $2,347,890 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the bank’s stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Stock Yards Bancorp by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,294 shares of the bank’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Stock Yards Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 1.7% during the third quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 63,717 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Stock Yards Bancorp by 6.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 22,417 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360 shares in the last quarter. 56.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.