Julie Ann Fairchild Sells 1,500 Shares of Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) CAO Julie Ann Fairchild sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $94,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,600. The trade was a 22.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:SFST traded up $1.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $64.62. 53,234 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 112,972. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.60 and a 1 year high of $64.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $611.35 million, a P/E ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.01. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 16.78%.The firm had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.30 million. Equities analysts expect that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SFST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research note on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern First Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $64.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 worth $19,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,741 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% in the 1st 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 period. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth $10,998,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.7% during the 4th 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. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $8,208,000 after buying an additional 22,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

About Southern First Bancshares

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.