Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage Sells 400 Shares of Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $25,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 48,765 shares in the company, valued at $3,072,195. This represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:SFST opened at $60.79 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.10 and a 200-day moving average of $58.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $574.77 million, a PE ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 0.68. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.90 and a 52 week high of $65.09.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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%. Analysts predict that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFST has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of 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 research report on Friday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern First Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,736,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.6% in 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,998,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 164,986 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,500,000 after purchasing an additional 4,302 shares during the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.