Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Upgraded at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $43.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of Southern First Bancshares stock opened at $36.87 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $301.19 million, a PE ratio of 19.20 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.86 and a 200-day moving average of $36.20. Southern First Bancshares has a 1-year low of $26.27 and a 1-year high of $45.91.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.04. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 4.85% and a net margin of 7.28%. The firm had revenue of $26.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.56 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William Iv Maner acquired 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $36.15 per share, with a total value of $25,305.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $97,605. The trade was a 35.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,974 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,434,000 after purchasing an additional 5,931 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern First Bancshares by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,747,000 after buying an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 350,875 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,947,000 after acquiring an additional 10,854 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Southern First Bancshares by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 278,549 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares during the period. Finally, Rhino Investment Partners Inc increased its position in Southern First Bancshares by 2,936.8% in the 4th quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 230,221 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,151,000 after acquiring an additional 222,640 shares during the period. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Southern First Bancshares

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.