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

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

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

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SFST traded up $2.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.62. The company had a trading volume of 48,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,097. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Southern First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $29.14 and a 52 week high of $46.62. The firm has a market cap of $381.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $43.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.54.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern First Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFST. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the first quarter valued at approximately $616,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 101,461 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,902 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,974 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,434,000 after buying an additional 5,931 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 44.8% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 8,535 shares of the bank’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 2,639 shares during the period. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 36,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,207,000 after buying an additional 3,609 shares in the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.