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

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $25,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 49,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,119,445. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of Southern First Bancshares stock opened at $62.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $588.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.03 and a 200 day moving average of $58.51. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.90 and a 12 month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.30 million. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 10.18%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFST. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $50,736,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southern First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,998,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Southern First Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $5,619,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in Southern First Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $5,343,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,022,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research lowered 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 note on Friday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.