Insider Selling: Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Sells $46,359.00 in Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage sold 765 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.60, for a total transaction of $46,359.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 50,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,073,329. This trade represents a 1.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Southern First Bancshares Price Performance

SFST stock opened at $60.68 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.80 and a fifty-two week high of $62.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.51. The stock has a market cap of $574.03 million, a PE ratio of 14.18 and a beta of 0.68.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The bank reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $32.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.10 million. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 15.21%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 431,814 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,052,000 after purchasing an additional 10,741 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 380,368 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 164,986 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,500,000 after purchasing an additional 4,302 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 150,607 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,208,000 after purchasing an additional 22,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 77,980 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,018,000 after purchasing an additional 7,882 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern First Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.