Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on SFST. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Southern First Bancshares from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Southern First Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern First Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SFST opened at $48.67 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $398.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.10. Southern First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $29.14 and a fifty-two week high of $49.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.84.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The bank reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $31.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.20 million. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 7.74%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 5,931 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 3,825 shares in the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC grew its position in Southern First Bancshares by 95.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Southern First Bancshares by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 101,461 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,902 shares in the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.