De Lisle Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 12,591 Southern First Bancshares, Inc. $SFST

De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 12,591 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $770,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 666 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 28.7% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,380 shares of the bank’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 154.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,633 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Southern First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on SFST. Zacks Research lowered Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Julie Ann Fairchild sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $94,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 5,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $327,600. This trade represents a 22.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 765 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.60, for a total value of $46,359.00. Following the sale, the director owned 50,715 shares in the company, valued at $3,073,329. This represents a 1.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,518 shares of company stock valued at $155,857 over the last quarter. 6.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of Southern First Bancshares stock opened at $63.03 on Monday. 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 $596.26 million, a PE ratio of 13.50 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.63 and a 200-day moving average of $58.39. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.90 and a 1-year high of $65.09.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.01. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The business had revenue of $20.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.30 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern First Bancshares Company Profile

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.