Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Short Interest Update

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 59,500 shares, a growth of 30.8% from the September 15th total of 45,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 21,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern First Bancshares

In other Southern First Bancshares news, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 1,290 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.02, for a total value of $40,015.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 60,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,878,633.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 2,515 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $83,724.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,807,746.87. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 1,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.02, for a total value of $40,015.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,878,633.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,549 shares of company stock valued at $178,118. Corporate insiders own 7.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern First Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SFST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 4.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 413,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,125,000 after acquiring an additional 16,012 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 323,001 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,444,000 after purchasing an additional 10,138 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 151,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,618,000 after acquiring an additional 32,621 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 1.3% during the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 139,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,424,000 after buying an additional 1,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 9.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 92,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,699,000 after purchasing an additional 7,786 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

SFST stock traded up $1.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $36.74. 38,498 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,810. The company has a market cap of $299.65 million, a PE ratio of 22.40 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.12. Southern First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $24.98 and a 1 year high of $39.36.

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

Southern First Bancshares Company Profile

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.