Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Zacks Research lowered Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Southern First Bancshares from $54.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.00.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SFST opened at $53.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $440.14 million, a PE ratio of 14.30 and a beta of 0.75. Southern First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $29.14 and a fifty-two week high of $62.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $55.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.81.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 8.63%. The business had revenue of $1.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Southern First Bancshares

In other Southern First Bancshares news, insider Silvia T. King sold 2,625 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.49, for a total value of $158,786.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 3,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,721.87. This represents a 39.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SFST. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 377,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,460,000 after buying an additional 2,329 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 2.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 180,585 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,870,000 after buying an additional 3,825 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 164,986 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,500,000 after buying an additional 4,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fourthstone LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 62,993 shares during the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.