Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Anna Locke Acquires 300 Shares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Anna Locke acquired 300 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $63.27 per share, for a total transaction of $18,981.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,879.54. This represents a 8.33% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Southern First Bancshares stock traded up $0.38 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $63.48. 49,696 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 110,071. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $62.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.79. The stock has a market cap of $600.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60 and a beta of 0.67. 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 posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.30 million. 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 research firms have recently commented on SFST. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a report on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research downgraded Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern First Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 666 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 19,639 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,143 shares of the bank’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Southern First Bank, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and professional organizations.

Southern First Bank offers a range of deposit products, commercial and consumer loans, residential mortgage lending, treasury management and online and mobile banking services. Its lending activities include commercial real estate, business, construction, residential and consumer loans, while its deposit offerings include checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit and other related products.

Founded in 1999, Southern First has built a community-banking presence in markets across South Carolina and North Carolina, including the Greenville, Columbia and Charleston areas and the Charlotte and Raleigh markets.