Insider Selling: Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Sells $74,712.00 in Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton Cubbage sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $74,712.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 47,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,932,446. This trade represents a 2.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Southern First Bancshares Price Performance

SFST stock opened at $63.68 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.64. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.90 and a 12-month high of $65.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $602.41 million, a PE ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 0.67.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $20.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.30 million. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 16.78%. As a group, research analysts predict that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 2.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 34,910 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 4.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 66,603 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,193,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 23.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,637 shares of the bank’s stock worth $614,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Southern First Bancshares in the first quarter worth about $303,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 14.2% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 41,850 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.