Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage Sells 500 Shares of Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.79, for a total transaction of $31,395.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 46,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,926,014. This trade represents a 1.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of SFST traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $62.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 73,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 111,501. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $62.15 and a 200 day moving average of $58.57. 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 1 year low of $40.90 and a 1 year high of $65.09.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of Southern First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southern First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $10,998,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20,673 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,343,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $992,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,736,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.