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

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

SFST has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Down 0.1%

SFST opened at $50.89 on Friday. Southern First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $29.14 and a 52 week high of $52.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.03. The firm has a market cap of $416.74 million, a P/E ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 0.85.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The bank reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.18. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 11.83%.The firm had revenue of $31.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.20 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter worth $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 buying 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 buying an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 111.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is currently 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.