Insider Selling: Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Sells 765 Shares of Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage sold 765 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.60, for a total transaction of $46,359.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 50,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,073,329. This trade represents a 1.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Down 0.2%

SFST stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $61.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 104,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 102,875. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $580.75 million, a P/E ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.80 and a 52-week high of $62.38.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The bank reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.01). Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 15.21%.The company had revenue of $32.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.10 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded 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 lowered shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.00.

Institutional Trading of Southern First Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 boosted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 380,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 4,302 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 150,607 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,208,000 after purchasing an additional 22,700 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Southern First Bancshares by 11.2% during the 4th 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 during 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.