Key Points
- Director Anna Locke purchased 300 Southern First Bancshares shares at an average price of $63.27, investing $18,981 and increasing her holdings by 8.33% to 3,902 shares.
- SFST shares opened at $63.52, near their 52-week high of $65.09. The bank recently reported quarterly EPS of $1.20, slightly above analyst expectations.
- Institutional investors own approximately 75% of the company, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $64.00.
Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST - Get Free Report) Director Anna Locke acquired 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $63.27 per share, with a total value of $18,981.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,879.54. This represents a 8.33% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.
Southern First Bancshares Trading Up 0.7%
SFST opened at $63.52 on Wednesday. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $40.90 and a one year high of $65.09. The company has a market cap of $600.90 million, a P/E ratio of 13.60 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $62.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.81.
Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.30 million. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 16.78%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Institutional Trading of Southern First Bancshares
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFST. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in Southern First Bancshares by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 666 shares of the bank's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 19,639 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 8.6% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,143 shares of the bank's stock valued at $662,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Southern First Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.00% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SFST. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern First Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.00.
Read Our Latest Research Report on SFST
About Southern First Bancshares
(
Get Free Report)
Southern First Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Southern First Bank, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and professional organizations.
Southern First Bank offers a range of deposit products, commercial and consumer loans, residential mortgage lending, treasury management and online and mobile banking services. Its lending activities include commercial real estate, business, construction, residential and consumer loans, while its deposit offerings include checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit and other related products.
Founded in 1999, Southern First has built a community-banking presence in markets across South Carolina and North Carolina, including the Greenville, Columbia and Charleston areas and the Charlotte and Raleigh markets.
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