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 report issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Southern First Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Southern First Bancshares from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut Southern First Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Up 5.1%

SFST stock traded up $2.25 on Friday, reaching $46.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 48,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,097. The firm has a market cap of $381.77 million, a PE ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.54. Southern First Bancshares has a 12-month low of $29.14 and a 12-month high of $46.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The bank reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.18. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 7.74%. The business had revenue of $31.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.20 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 2.6% during the 3rd 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 26.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,760 shares of the bank’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. Sentinel Trust Co. LBA bought a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $313,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.4% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,754 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 111.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.