Leighton M. Cubbage Sells 1,744 Shares of Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 1,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.18, for a total transaction of $54,377.92. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 58,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,833,945.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Southern First Bancshares stock traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $33.10. The stock had a trading volume of 3,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,720. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.79. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.98 and a 12-month high of $39.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $270.10 million, a P/E ratio of 20.54 and a beta of 0.81.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.08. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The business had revenue of $54.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.13 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 151,436 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,618,000 after purchasing an additional 32,621 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 36.4% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 54,457 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 14,545 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 181.4% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 25,443 shares of the bank’s stock worth $808,000 after purchasing an additional 16,400 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 4.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 413,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,125,000 after purchasing an additional 16,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 19.3% during the second quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,983 shares of the bank’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th.

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.