Wall Street Zen Downgrades Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) to Hold

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SFST. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern First Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.00.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:SFST opened at $57.83 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Southern First Bancshares has a 1-year low of $29.14 and a 1-year high of $58.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $473.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.48.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.90 million. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 8.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David G. Ellison sold 1,000 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.28, for a total transaction of $53,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 49,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,645,938.08. This trade represents a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fourthstone LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 95.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 129,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 62,993 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $231,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 2.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 180,585 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,870,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Southern First Bancshares by 26.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,760 shares of the bank’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter worth $38,000. 75.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.