Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Sunday.

SFST has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research cut Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern First Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Down 8.1%

NASDAQ:SFST opened at $54.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $442.34 million, a PE ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average is $52.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Southern First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $29.14 and a 52 week high of $58.77.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.10. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $1.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern First Bancshares news, Director David G. Ellison sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.28, for a total transaction of $53,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 49,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,645,938.08. This represents a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 525 shares of company stock worth $23,011. 7.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFST. Fourthstone LLC boosted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 95.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 129,174 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 62,993 shares during the period. Maltese Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $1,125,000. Teton Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter worth approximately $794,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $756,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the second quarter worth $654,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

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.