Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Purchases $13,323.60 in Stock

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Anna T. Locke purchased 360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $37.01 per share, for a total transaction of $13,323.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,582 shares in the company, valued at $95,559.82. The trade was a 16.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SFST traded up $0.17 on Thursday, hitting $36.18. 5,712 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,881. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.98 and a 1 year high of $45.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $38.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $295.23 million, a P/E ratio of 18.84 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.29. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 4.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Southern First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SFST. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Southern First Bancshares by 37.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,066 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Southern First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $101,000. Princeton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Colonial Trust Advisors lifted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors now owns 5,725 shares of the bank’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 7,506 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the period. 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.