Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Southern First Bancshares from $54.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern First Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.00.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ SFST opened at $53.48 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.90. Southern First Bancshares has a one year low of $29.14 and a one year high of $62.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $440.14 million, a P/E ratio of 14.30 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.90 million. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 8.63% and a net margin of 13.52%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Silvia T. King sold 2,625 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.49, for a total transaction of $158,786.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,963 shares in the company, valued at $239,721.87. This trade represents a 39.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 34,910 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 4.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 66,603 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 23.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,637 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the first quarter valued at approximately $303,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 180,585 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,870,000 after buying an additional 3,825 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

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.