Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Piper Sandler upgraded Southern First Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFST traded up $0.50 during trading on Thursday, hitting $31.76. The company had a trading volume of 12,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,035. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.16 million, a P/E ratio of 19.13 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. Southern First Bancshares has a 12 month low of $20.75 and a 12 month high of $39.36.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The bank reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The firm had revenue of $51.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.46 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southern First Bancshares will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO R Arthur Seaver, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.13, for a total value of $77,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,831,896.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Southern First Bancshares news, CEO R Arthur Seaver, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.13, for a total value of $77,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,970 shares in the company, valued at $2,831,896.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO R Arthur Seaver, Jr. sold 996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total transaction of $31,125.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 83,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,608,437.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,513 shares of company stock worth $109,477 in the last ninety days. 7.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFST. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 799,080 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,558,000 after buying an additional 117,405 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 777,221 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,236,000 after buying an additional 108,424 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 4.1% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 645,858 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,153,000 after purchasing an additional 25,449 shares in the last quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 429,870 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,667,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 406,384 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern First Bancshares Company Profile

Southern First Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit.