Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Sells $25,200.00 in Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $25,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 48,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,072,195. This trade represents a 0.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ SFST opened at $62.89 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.90 and a twelve month high of $65.09. The company has a market cap of $594.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $62.22 and its 200 day moving average is $58.61.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.01. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 16.78%.The business had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.30 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SFST. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a report on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southern First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at $10,998,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 147.3% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,706 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,891,000 after acquiring an additional 20,673 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,343,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $992,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,736,000. 75.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.