Insider Selling: Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director David Ellison sold 1,000 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.28, for a total value of $53,280.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 49,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,645,938.08. The trade was a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Up 1.0%

SFST traded up $0.51 on Wednesday, reaching $53.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,462. The stock has a market cap of $435.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45 and a beta of 0.76. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.14 and a 1 year high of $53.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $46.29 and its 200 day moving average is $42.80.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The bank reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $31.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.20 million. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 7.63% and a net margin of 11.83%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Southern First Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFST. Fourthstone LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 95.2% during the second quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 129,174 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 62,993 shares during the last quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,125,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $616,000. Teton Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $794,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern First Bancshares in the third quarter worth $756,000. Institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit.