Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage Sells 800 Shares of Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.02, for a total value of $50,416.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 49,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,145,643.30. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Southern First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of SFST stock opened at $63.01 on Tuesday. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.90 and a 52-week high of $65.09. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $596.07 million, a P/E ratio of 13.49 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.42.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.01. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 16.78%.The company had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.30 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SFST. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $10,998,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 20,673 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 22,700 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its position in Southern First Bancshares by 39.7% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 60,578 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,121,000 after purchasing an additional 17,228 shares during the period. Finally, Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $645,000. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SFST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern First Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.00.

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.