Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $64.00.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Up 0.3%

SFST opened at $60.55 on Wednesday. Southern First Bancshares has a 1-year low of $38.30 and a 1-year high of $64.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $572.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $59.46 and a 200-day moving average of $57.09.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.01. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The business had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.30 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern First Bancshares will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 765 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.60, for a total value of $46,359.00. Following the sale, the director owned 50,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,073,329. The trade was a 1.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 431,814 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,741 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 380,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,730,000 after buying an additional 2,657 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 164,986 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,500,000 after buying an additional 4,302 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 17.7% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 150,607 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,208,000 after buying an additional 22,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 77,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,018,000 after buying an additional 7,882 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Southern First Bancshares Company Profile

Southern First Bancshares is the bank holding company for Southern First Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, the company delivers a full spectrum of commercial and consumer banking services designed to meet the needs of small and midsize businesses, professionals, and individual customers. Southern First Bancshares operates under a relationship-driven model, emphasizing personalized service and local decision–making.

The company’s core offerings include deposit products such as checking, savings, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside an array of lending solutions covering commercial real estate, construction, equipment financing and small business administration (SBA) loans.